Commercial Radio Australia, claim that over 100,000 digital radios have been sold during the past 12 months and that a new research Digital Radio Industry Report, reveals that 75% of Australian is willing to pay between $50 and $200 for a new DAB device.
CRA has also said that they are now turning their attention to the introduction of digital radio in cars, which has been criticised because of the delivery of text data to devices which includes both advertising and traffic data.
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Using research from Nielsen, GfK, and market researcher, the Hoop Group, CRA claim that 449,000 people listen to digital radio in an average week and that 80% of people who own a digital radio would recommend it to a friend.
Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer, Joan Warner said: “The market information in the Digital Radio Industry Report has exceeded the industry’s initial expectations. Initial predictions were up to 50,000 receivers sold in the first 12 months. Permanent high power digital radio services have only been on air for a short time and we are very pleased with these initial results,” Ms Warner said.
The main findings from recent consumer research** commissioned by CRA show:
· 63% of Australians are aware that DAB+ digital radio has launched in Australia
· 38% of people in metropolitan areas are likely to purchase a digital radio in the next 12 months.
· 80% of people who own a digital radio would recommend it to a friend
· 69% of people who own a digital radio believe it has delivered on expectations
· 74% of people are willing to spend between $50-$200 for a digital radio device
· 71% of digital radio owners purchased for the digital quality sound
Platform of listening was introduced to the industry’s radio audience measurement system in January 2009 to track listening on analogue radio devices, DAB+ digital radio devices and via the internet.
In Survey 1, 2010, in an average week nearly 95% of people in the five state capital cities listened to radio. Of those, 3.7% people listened to radio via the DAB+ digital radio platform and radio listening via the internet was 4.2%.
Radio listening on the internet attracted a slightly higher cumulative audience (504,000) than digital radio but the time spent listening on the DAB+ digital platform is higher at 8 hours and 16 minutes each week, compared to the internet listening at 5 hours and 31 minutes.
“We have to remember digital radio is a new technology, the internet has been available as an alternative way to listen to broadcast radio for many years and already digital radio time spent listening is greater than time spent listening via the internet platform,” Ms Warner said.
The report also shows that radio broadcasters have launched up to 16 new DAB+ only services in each market. Of all the people listening on the DAB+ platform, 20% were listening to the new DAB+ only stations launched by broadcasters.
“There are areas for further work like the introduction of digital radio into all cars as standard and the roll-out of digital radio to regional areas so all Australians can access this great medium. The industry will work hard to ensure these next steps come to fruition,” Ms Warner said.
The Digital Radio Industry Report can be downloaded from www.digitalradioplus.com.au by simply clicking on the Digital Radio Industry Report ticker on the home page.
