DAB radio base tops seven-million mark

by Emma Barnett Media Week 22-May-08, 15:00

LONDON - A total of seven million DAB digital radios have been sold in the UK, according to the Digital Radio Development Bureau.

Citing the latest figures released by GfK, the industry's marketing service, the DRDB said that at the end of April, cumulative DAB set sales stood at 7.05 million.

At the end of March the figure stood at 6.94 million, with the total number of DAB sets sold during the first three months of 2008 totalling 489,000 - 7% above the DRDB's forecast for the period.

Currently, there are more than 300 DAB products on the market, including handheld MP3/DAB radios, docking stations with DAB and Wi-Fi radios with DAB.

Nearly 11% of all radio listening is via a DAB radio, according to Rajar Q1 data.

The DRDB figures reveal a growing demand for digital radio, which is expected to be boosted further by communications provider Orange, which has just launched Liveradio, a wireless internet radio device giving broadband customers access to more than 4,000 internet radio stations. Orange launches Liveradio in the UK this week, having already secured a foothold in the French market.