Earlier this year, figures from RAJAR Ltd (Radio Joint Audience Research) showed that 13% of UK adults had listened to the radio via mobile phone. 54% of these selected the station using an FM preset, while 14% ran an app for a specific radio station.
Now, new research has revealed that 20% of smartphone owners - 1.4 million people – have downloaded a radio app, with over half of them (53%) using the application at least once a week. These figures are part of RAJAR's latest MIDAS (Measurement of Internet Delivered Audio Services) survey.
Christel Lacaze, RAJAR's research manager, said "The latest MIDAS survey allows us to track the changing behaviour of people who use their mobile phones to listen to the radio. With smartphones fast growing their market share, a greater number of mobile phone owners are able to listen to the radio via their phone using a mobile internet connection rather than an FM signal, giving them access to richer content on the go. These new findings are going to be of great interest to the industry and those involved in the development of radio apps."