DAB digital radio sales reach 75m worldwide
June 12, 2019
WorldDAB’s latest market report reveals that by the end of Q4 2018, over 75 million consumer and automotive DAB/DAB+ receivers had been sold in Europe and Asia Pacific – up from 65 million in Q4 2017.
The report covers Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. DAB is now firmly established as the core future platform for radio in Europe – a position underlined by a number of recent regulatory interventions.
On a pan-European level, the EECC directive adopted by the EU in December 2018 requires all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio by the end of 2020. Italy has already put legislation in place to ensure that it complies with the directive by the start of 2020, while France – whose aggressive rollout of DAB continues to sweep across the country – has also triggered a receiver law requiring all new car radios released from June 2020 to include DAB+ digital radio capabilities.
In the UK, digital listening has reached a new record share of 56.4 per cent, with over two thirds (71.6 per cent) of all digital listening attributed to DAB. The government has just announced the launch of a review and programme of work to ensure a healthy and vibrant digital future for UK radio. The review is expected to be concluded in 2020.
Key findings from the WorldDAB report include:
- In the UK, 67 per cent of households have at least one DAB radio, and digital listening has been in excess of 50 per cent for three successive quarters
- Over 11 million receivers have been sold in Germany
- In Switzerland, 64 per cent of all radio listening is via digital platforms
- In Italy, 46 per cent of new cars are now sold with DAB+, up from 32 per cent in 2017
- 6 million receivers have been sold in Norway
- In Australia, 69 per cent of new cars are now sold with DAB+, up from 47 per cent in 2017
DAB is also seeing significant activity across Asia, Middle East, and Africa. The infographic details the rollout status in 21 emerging markets including information on trials and population coverage.
Following the launch of the findings, WorldDAB president, Patrick Hannon, commented:
“The last 12 months have been an exceptional period for DAB radio. The EU has adopted a directive requiring all new car radios to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial broadcasts; new markets such as France, Belgium and Austria are launching national DAB+ services and established markets including Germany, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and Australia are reporting record levels of digital listening. In 2018, 10 million DAB receivers were sold worldwide. We expect this figure to be easily surpassed in the years ahead”.