As we see streaming take over music all around the world radio is going digital as well, confirms a new study.

RAJAR have revealed their latest data, comparing Q2 2017 to Q2 2016 and showing its impressive growth. According to their new data basically half of all radio is listened to on digital platforms now with a 48.7% share of radio listening.

Compared to last year this a growth of 7.5% from 45.3% in Q2 2016, an increase of 1.5 million adults listening to radio digitally. This means that roughly 33 million people currently listen to digital radio on a weekly basis, which is over 60% of the UK population.

The study also looked at what digital platforms were being used, finding that online sites and apps had grown 9.1% for an 8.8% share of radio listening and 18% of digital radio. The majority of digital radio is still listened to on DAB radios which has a 71% share on digital platforms and a 34.5 share of overall radio usage.

A variety of factors play into digital radio’s surging popularity, beyond just how digital our lives are becoming year-on-year. With the advent of home speakers like the Amazon Echo, capable of using the internet to stream music from a variety of platforms, more and more people have access to digital radio stations. The UK also switched to digital TV years back which gives access to digital radio stations, no doubt enhancing awareness and listening numbers.

The most popular digital-exclusive station in the UK was revealed as the excellent BBC Radio 6 Music, home to a wide variety of music with 2.23 million weekly listeners. Following just behind is BBC Radio 4 Extra with a weekly reach of 2.09 million listeners, which Radio 6 overtook back in 2012 for the first time.

Whilst overall, very nearly half of all radio listening is digital, figures for 10-64 year olds is already at 50.8% digital. Additionally; 10-14, 15-24, 35-44, and 45-54 year olds have all surpassed 50% of radio listening on digital platforms.