News Archive

DAB+ commercial radio audience surges 30%

14 March 2023

The Australian commercial DAB+ station audience grew over 30% in 2022 from 1.88 million to 2.45 million, according to GfK data released by industry body Commercial Radio & Audio.

Commercial DAB+ radio stations took out the top seven spots of the 10 most listened to DAB+ stations over the year.

CRA chief executive officer Ford Ennals said the strong result shows that more people are discovering the large variety of radio stations now available on DAB+ and online as well.

“With DAB+ radio, people can widen their audio listening experience. Whether you are sports tragic, a lover of ‘80s or ‘90s hits or a dance music fan, there’s a commercial DAB+ radio station, or stations, that are for you,” Mr Ennals said.

“The growing number of commercial DAB+ stations also enable advertisers to better target demographics in areas with DAB+ radio coverage,” he added.

Seventeen commercial DAB+ stations each ended the year with a national weekly audience above 100,000 listeners. The ABC had six stations in the top 20 DAB+ stations of 2022.

“DAB+ continues to grow as broadcasters enhance their digital radio formats and car manufacturers continue to add DAB+ technology to their vehicle ranges,” Mr Ennals said.

Seventy-nine percent of cars sold in 2022 were enabled with DAB+ technology.

The figures, compiled by automotive business intelligence group Glass’s Information Services show that 854,626 new vehicles sold in 2022 were equipped with DAB+, an increase of 4% year on year.

GfK’s point of sales report estimates that over eight million DAB+ enabled devices have been sold since the broadcasting technology was launched in Australia.

DAB+, which stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting, is on air in the five major metro markets as well as Hobart, Darwin, Canberra, Mandurah in Western Australia, and the Gold Coast.

DAB+ is a more spectrum efficient technology than AM and FM, enhancing listener experience while enabling radio networks to broadcast more stations. It includes features such as pause and rewind, and allows users to search for stations by name, not frequency.

Top rating commercial DAB+ stations nationally include The 80s, The 90s, Coles Radio, OldSkool 90s hits and RNB Fridays.