DAB has 10% share of radio listening

DAB Digital Radio now accounts for 10% of all radio listening in the UK, according to new figures from RAJAR today.

The share of listening during the fourth quarter was up significantly from 8.6% in the previous three months and came despite the closure of stations such as Core and Oneword.

The platform has come under fire in recent weeks, with a report from telecoms analysis firm Enders warning that high transmission costs, overcapacity and what it described as "not enough enthusiasm for DAB from listeners or advertisers" could combine to promote an AM-like decline of DAB's future viability as a mass-market platform. One radio executive was even quoted in the report as comparing DAB to Betamax, a claim criticised in the blogosphere.

Today, the Digital Radio Development Bureau - an organisation funded and supported by an array of groups including the BBC, national multiplex operator Digital One and commercial radio industry body RadioCentre, said that the RAJAR results represented "good news for an industry that is currently making some natural adjustments designed to deliver an even stronger DAB proposition going forward".

Listening via DAB came ahead of listening via digital television (3.1%) and the internet (1.9%), according to RAJAR.