8 August 2011
The first quarter of the year, January until end of March 2011, saw BBC 6 Music drawing in 1.3 million listeners a week according to a report by the independent regulator Ofcom.
BBC Radio 7 / 4 Extra enjoyed 1.2 million listeners per week.
Smash Hits and The Hits weekly audiences also reached 1.1 million listeners each.
Radio programmes delivered over a digital distribution platform are said to have accounted for 26.5 per cent of all radio listening hours.
This is Ofcom's second annual Digital Radio Progress Report covering developments in the digital radio market - Communications Market: Digital Radio Report.
The report also examines how demographic factors affect the proportion of digital listening:
Digital Radio Equipment
Dedicated DAB digital radios were the most widely-used means of listening to digital radio services followed by digital television. Internet enabled devices such as mobile phones, tablets, PCs came next in the list of most popular devices used to listen to digital radio.
By the end of the first quarter of this year, nearly 13 million DAB digital radio devices had been sold in the UK.
More people in South-East England are listening to digital radio with Reading and Basingstoke (47 per cent) having the highest listenership.
Set ownership is lowest in the Scottish Borders at 21.6 per cent, Northern Ireland (22.7 per cent) and North and West Wales (25.9 per cent), where the choice of stations is also lowest.
Among those who do not yet have access to a DAB digital radio set, 21 per cent claim that they are likely/very likely/certain to buy a set in the next twelve months.
RNIB Digital radio campaign
In 2009, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) commissioned a research study which looked at how easy digital radio devices are to use for blind and partially sighted people, people with dexterity problems or dyslexia. Results showed that simple changes such as voice output feedback could make a big difference.
Further to this, Ricability tested 15 DAB radios available on the high street, assessing how easy to use they were for blind and partially sighted people and people with limited dexterity.
A copy of the checklist of what features to look for when purchasing a digital radio is available to download in PDF or word.
•DAB Checklist and Priorities (Word 39kb)
•DAB Checklist and Priorities (PDF 118kb).
More information
For further information on DAB radio or the research project, email audiodescription@rnib.org.uk or simply call us on 0303 123 9999.