Digital radio accounted for 74.6% of UK radio listening hours in Q4 2025, while DAB alone represented 42.1%. Total digital radio reached 75.3% of UK radio listeners in the same quarter. These figures show a mature digital market in which broadcast DAB and internet-connected listening operate alongside one another.
Contents
- UK digital listening share
- DAB listening reach and hours
- The scale of the digital radio audience
- Online radio and connected platforms
- Apps, websites and smart speakers
- Northern Ireland adoption
- International receiver adoption
UK digital listening share
RAJAR measures digital radio as the combined contribution of DAB, online radio and digital television. Its UK listening-hours figures show that digital listening stayed above seven-tenths across the reported periods.
| Period | Total digital share of radio hours |
|---|---|
| Q4 2023 | 72.0% |
| Q2 2024 | 73.7% |
| Q3 2024 | 74.3% |
| Q4 2024 | 72.2% |
| Q1 2025 | 73.3% |
| Q2 2025 | 73.4% |
| Q3 2025 | 73.8% |
| Q4 2025 | 74.6% |
The Q4 2023, Q3 2024 and Q4 2024 figures come from RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q4 24 – February 6th 2025. The Q2 2024 through Q2 2025 figures are reported in RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q2 2025 – July 31st 2025: All Digital Radio Listening, while Q3 2025 appears in RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q3 2025 – October 23rd 2025 and Q4 2025 in RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q4 2025 – February 5th 2026: All Digital Radio Listening.
The highest value in this sequence was 74.6% in Q4 2025, and the lowest was 72.0% in Q4 2023. The quarterly movement is not a straight line: Q4 2024 was 72.2%, followed by 73.3% in Q1 2025 and 74.6% in Q4 2025. These are listening-hour shares, not the percentage of households with a digital receiver or the share of people who listen every week.
DAB listening reach and hours
DAB remained the largest individual digital platform in the supplied UK measures, although its share of total radio hours was lower than the combined digital total. DAB represented 42.7% of radio listening hours in Q4 2023, rose to 44.0% in Q3 2024, and stood at 42.7% in Q4 2024, according to the Q4 2024 RAJAR release.
The subsequent RAJAR figures were 42.8% in Q2 2024, 42.1% in Q1 2025, 41.8% in Q2 2025, 41.6% in Q3 2025 and 42.1% in Q4 2025. The Q4 2025 figure therefore describes a small recovery from the 41.6% recorded in Q3 2025, but it remains below the 44.0% reported for Q3 2024.
DAB weekly reach also changed over the reported 2024–2025 periods. It reached 62.9% of UK radio listeners in Q2 2024, 61.6% in Q1 2025, 59.6% in Q2 2025, 60.5% in Q3 2025 and 60.3% in Q4 2025. These reach figures are not interchangeable with listening-hour share: one describes people reached weekly, while the other describes the proportion of listening time.
RAJAR reported DAB listening at 449,000 hours in Q2 2024, 433,000 in Q1 2025, 429,000 in Q2 2025, 425,000 in Q3 2025 and 427,000 in Q4 2025. The figures are reported in thousands of hours. The relevant source is the RAJAR Q4 2025 digital listening release, with earlier periods in the RAJAR Q2 2025 release.
RAJAR labels DAB separately from online radio and digital television. Ofcom notes that DAB includes DAB+ where RAJAR does not provide separate figures, so these measures should be read as DAB-platform statistics rather than a separate DAB-versus-DAB+ comparison.
The scale of the digital radio audience
Across the same UK measures, total digital radio reached 77.2% of radio listeners in Q2 2024 and generated 772,000 listening hours. It reached 76.5% and generated 753,000 hours in Q1 2025; 75.1% and 753,000 hours in Q2 2025; 75.8% and 754,000 hours in Q3 2025; and 75.3% and 757,000 hours in Q4 2025.
| Platform and period | Weekly reach | Listening hours |
|---|---|---|
| Total digital, Q2 2024 | 77.2% | 772,000 |
| Total digital, Q2 2025 | 75.1% | 753,000 |
| Total digital, Q4 2025 | 75.3% | 757,000 |
| DAB, Q2 2024 | 62.9% | 449,000 |
| DAB, Q2 2025 | 59.6% | 429,000 |
| DAB, Q4 2025 | 60.3% | 427,000 |
For comparison, DAB reached 62.9% of listeners and generated 449,000 hours in Q2 2024. The corresponding DAB figures were 61.6% and 433,000 hours in Q1 2025, 59.6% and 429,000 in Q2 2025, 60.5% and 425,000 in Q3 2025, and 60.3% and 427,000 in Q4 2025. All reach figures here are weekly reach, and all hours are reported in thousands unless the claim states otherwise.
The comparison illustrates why “digital radio audience” and “DAB audience” answer different questions. Total digital radio includes multiple digital routes, while DAB is one platform within that total. The values also come from quarterly measurements, so they describe the named periods rather than a permanent annual level.
Online radio and connected platforms
Total online radio represented 25.6% of UK radio listening hours in Q4 2023. It rose to 28.1% in Q2 2024, 27.7% in Q3 2024 and 27.0% in Q4 2024. The later values were 28.5% in Q1 2025, 29.3% in Q2 2025, 29.7% in Q3 2025 and 29.8% in Q4 2025.
The Q4 2025 online-radio share was the highest in this supplied series. It was also 4.2 percentage points above the Q4 2023 value, although the series includes quarterly variation. Online radio is reported separately from DAB in the RAJAR platform breakdown, so it should not be treated as a synonym for all digital radio.
The source for the latest figure is RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q4 2025 – February 5th 2026: All Digital Radio Listening. The earlier comparison is supported by RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q4 24 and RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q2 2025.
Apps, websites and smart speakers
Website and app radio listening reached 24.4% of UK radio listeners in Q2 2024 and remained at 24.4% in Q1 2025. It was 24.0% in Q2 2025. These are listener-reach measures, not shares of total radio listening hours.
Smart-speaker radio listening reached 26.0% of UK radio listeners in Q2 2024, 27.6% in Q1 2025 and 27.1% in Q2 2025. By Q4 2025, smart speakers accounted for 18.5% of UK radio listening hours and generated 188,000 hours. The reach and hours figures use different units and periods, so they should not be combined into one percentage.
These app, website and smart-speaker statistics come from RAJAR DATA RELEASE Q2 2025 – July 31st 2025 and the RAJAR Q4 2025 digital listening release. Together they show the importance of connected devices in digital radio, while keeping platform reach distinct from time spent listening.
Northern Ireland adoption
Ofcom’s Media Nations 2025 – Northern Ireland provides a regional series for DAB. Weekly DAB reach among adults was 52.4% in Q1 2022, 54.0% in Q1 2023, 56.0% in Q1 2024 and 55.6% in Q1 2025.
DAB’s share of radio listening hours in Northern Ireland was 30.2% in Q1 2022, 30.8% in Q1 2023, 34.7% in Q1 2024 and 31.5% in Q1 2025. The regional series therefore records both a reach measure and a time-share measure, just as the UK-wide RAJAR data does. The periods are annual first quarters and should not be read as full-year averages.
Ofcom’s note on the measurement should be kept in view: the figures describe Northern Ireland, not the whole UK. They also use the reported DAB category; the figures do not establish a separate DAB+ total.
International receiver adoption
WorldDAB reported cumulative DAB receiver sales of 145,195,000 across eleven core markets by February 2025 in DAB receivers near 150 million worldwide as new data released on World Radio Day 2025. This is a cumulative sales total, not an estimate of the active installed base.
The WorldDAB Infographic: DAB Digital reported the following cumulative receiver totals in its Q4 2024 infographic:
| Market | Cumulative DAB receivers |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 55,593,000 |
| Germany | 28,300,000 |
| Italy | 12,574,000 |
| France | 10,609,000 |
| Australia | 10,197,000 |
These country values are infographic totals with country-specific coverage notes. They are not directly comparable with weekly reach or listening-hour shares. WorldDAB also reported that DAB+ was fitted in at least 96% of new cars across Europe in 2021 in WorldDAB Automotive 2024: President’s opening address. That is a Europe-wide industry measure for 2021, not a forecast.