WorldDMB has published the latest facts and figures on digital radio around the world.
The information coincides with this week’s IFA 2012 in Berlin, the largest consumer electronics fair in Europe, where digital radio has been featured.
The report includes a country-by-country guide to the progress of the DAB family of standards, and in particular on the push for development of in-car receivers and features. It includes an update on the UK market, where it says that 56% of new vehicles now make digital radio available as standard or an option, and over one-quarter of new vehicles registered in Q2 2012 were fitted with digital radio as standard.
The report quotes GfK figures as showing that in the year to August, sales of digital radio car adapters increased by 43%.
WorldDMB also report that in Norway, the government has set a switch-off date for FM broadcasting in January 2017, provided certain conditions are met. These include that 50% of the listeners must daily use a digital platform by 2015. Unlike the UK requirement, this does not specify market share of listening, only reach – which in the UK already stands at over 46%. If the criteria are not met in 2015, Norway’s switchover date will be moved to 2019. Meanwhile, Switzerland has the highest DAB coverage for any country at 99% of the population, albeit in a country of just 7.5 million people. Around the world, the DAB family of standards covers over half a billion people.
The Global Digital Radio Broadcasting Update 2012 can be downloaded here.
Posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 at 12:13 pm by RadioToday UK