Radio gaga
Around 16.3 million Brits have listened to the radio via the internet, while 12.7 million adults have tuned in to a Listen Again service, according to new research.
Radio Joint Audience Research's (RAJAR) 7th internet survey, which quizzed 1091 people in November via Ipsos MORI, said the number of smartphone owners who have downloaded an app to listen to the radio via the net has soared from 1.4 million in June 2010 to 2.2 million in November.
The RAJAR Measurement of Internet Delivered Audio Services (MIDAS 7) report found around 13 percent of British adults have listened to radio on their mobile and of those over half choose a station using a specific FM preset, while 16 percent plump for a radio station app.
The MIDAS report also discovered that over a quarter of smartphone users, (some 2.2 million adults) have downloaded a radio app and of those, 44 percent use them at least once a week, a figure that will probably rise as more people adopt smartphones.
Christel Swift, research manager, RAJAR said:"Listening to radio via smartphones has grown rapidly over the past year or so and this is reflected in the number of people who claim to have downloaded a radio app, which now stands at just over a quarter of smartphone owners. This development is excellent news for radio on the go and represents a real opportunity for the radio industry."
The number of people listening to the radio online has also rocketed, with almost a third of British adults listening online, including 14.7m Brits who have listened live and 12.7m who have used Listen-Again services.
Interestingly almost three quarters of Listen Again fans said the service did not stop them listening to as much live radio, with half saying they have supplemented their usual radio programme choices with new offerings.
The report said almost 8 million people are aware of Personalised Online Radio (POR), while the number of people who use such services at least once a week currently stands at 2.6 million.
Around 6.5 million Brits claim to have heard of Wi-Fi radio (a set that connected to the net and can play internet radio services) but just 2 percent of people own one.
Finally, more than 8 million adults have downloaded a podcast with almost half of these users claiming to listen to them at least once a week. However, only a quarter of people find time to actually listen t all the podcasts they have eagerly downloaded.
Again, the survey suggests that people's appetite for podcasts has not eaten into radio listening figures, as three quarters of respondents said their podcast habit has not affected their listening habits. Furthermore, 30 percent of people said they now listen to radio programmes they didn't tune in to before.
The report found the ‘typical podcast user' subscribes to just under 5 podcasts and spends around 2 hours every week listening to them. As in previous surveys, comedy and music remain the two favourite genres, according to the research.
Perhaps surprisingly due to pervasive nature of MP3 players and now smartphones, over three quarters of Brits listen to podcasts at home, while half of adults tune-in in the car or on public transport.
