Analysis of RAJAR audience research data demonstrates that consumer take-up of DAB digital radio in the UK has stalled, written by Grant Goddard in August 2011 for Grant Goddard: Radio Blog.

1. NEW RAJAR RADIO AUDIENCE
DATA CONFIRM DAB DIGITAL
RADIO CONSUMER TAKE-UP
HAS STALLED IN UK
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
August 2011

2. "Digital listening at an all-time high," shouted the headline of one online news story. Yes, it was
the quarterly RAJAR radio ratings, offering opportunities for some journalists to pitch their
stories just about any which way they wanted. The opening sentence of this particular report
said:
“The digital revolution shows no signs of slowing down, and not even the radio
airwaves are set to maintain their analogue tradition, as a new [RAJAR] study
suggests.”
Hardly. This news story was interesting because it achieved two simultaneous feats of
confusion:
 ‘DAB radio’ and ‘digital radio’ are two different things. ‘DAB’ is the platform on
which the UK radio industry bet the farm in the 1990s. ‘Digital radio’ is radio
received on any platform that is not analogue (AM/FM) and includes the internet,
smartphones, digital TV … and DAB
 The fact that DAB listening is growing does not necessarily mean that it is replacing
analogue listening at a rapid rate of attrition. Why? Because DAB listening, even
after 12 years, is still at a remarkably low level.
These confusions are not accidental. At every opportunity, statements made by Digital Radio
UK have sought to confuse the public by referring to ‘digital radio’ as if it means precisely the
same as ‘DAB radio.’
A look at the graphs below of the latest RAJAR data illustrate clearly that the “analogue
tradition” in radio remains so dominant that the real question to be asked is: how come DAB
usage is still so low after so many years and after so much money has been invested in
content, transmission systems and marketing?
New RAJAR Radio Audience Data Confirm DAB Digital Radio Consumer Take-Up Has Stalled In UK page 2
©2011 Grant Goddard

3. New RAJAR Radio Audience Data Confirm DAB Digital Radio Consumer Take-Up Has Stalled In UK page 3
©2011 Grant Goddard

4. New RAJAR Radio Audience Data Confirm DAB Digital Radio Consumer Take-Up Has Stalled In UK page 4
©2011 Grant Goddard
The adage ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’ has never been more true than with
DAB/digital radio usage. The four graphs above – all taken from the industry’s latest RAJAR
data – say it all by showing:
 how little impact DAB radio has had on analogue radio usage in the UK
 how slow the rate of growth is of DAB receiver take-up and of digital radio station
listening.
Far from radio losing its “analogue tradition,” as the news article asserted, the old FM/AM
platforms look, from these data, to be as strong as ever in the market.
One hint that some digital radio stations on the DAB platform could be on their way out is the
BBC’s latest decision to aggregate listening to 'Radio 4' and 'Radio 4 Extra' in RAJAR. It had
been doing this from the outset for 'Five Live' and 'Five Live Sports Extra', on the premise that
‘Sports Extra’ was only a part-time broadcast station.
I would not be at all surprised to see the BBC:
 similarly aggregate 'Radio 2' listening with '6 Music'
 similarly aggregate 'Radio 1' listening with '1Xtra'
 downgrade its digital radio stations from full-time DAB broadcast stations to online,
on-demand ‘extra content’ available via RadioPlayer, iPlayer and applications.
The problem with national broadcast BBC radio stations, whether analogue or DAB, is that
the BBC Charter insists they must be made available universally to all Licence Fee payers.
Given the huge cost of extending the BBC’s national DAB transmission multiplex to near-
universal coverage equivalent to FM radio, particularly at a time when the BBC is having to cut
budgets massively, it would be more sensible to downgrade ‘1Xtra’, ‘2Xtra’ and ‘4Xtra’ to ‘red
button’ status whereby they offer additional content on a part-time basis. The consumer would
access these Extra 'stations' via a complementary platform (IP) rather than the BBC having to
shoulder the financial burden of programming them as 24-hour broadcast entities.
It would prove a convenient solution for the BBC. As it found with '6 Music' last year, public
controversy surrounds any decision to close a radio station, however small its audience in
absolute terms. Alternatively, by pursuing the 'Extra' route, the digital stations can be re-
branded, re-purposed and re-platformed away from expensive, fixed-cost DAB and towards IP,
where the cost of delivery varies proportionately with the number of people using it. What
better way to deliver value for money to Licence Fee payers? And what better way not to face
public wrath for 'closing' a digital radio station.
As BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright said on today's Broadcasting House show:
"Maybe full digitisation [of radio from FM/AM to DAB] may well take thirty years …"
As the graphs above demonstrate, there IS slow growth in DAB usage, but the rate is
insufficient to replace analogue radio as the dominant consumer platform any time soon. It's
time for BBC strategy to catch up with that reality.
[First published by Grant Goddard: Radio Blog as 'Growing DAB Radio Usage In The UK. Confused? You Should Be!',
14 August 2011.]
Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk