Radio’s audience is steadily moving onto connected devices. Where listeners once reached for a dedicated set or a car dial, more and more of them now ask a smart speaker, open an app or tap a dashboard screen — and in doing so, they place radio directly alongside global streaming services, podcasts and on-demand audio, all competing for the same attention. The shift is no longer a forecast; it is well advanced. The question facing the industry is whether radio can hold its own in an environment it does not control, and what will decide the outcome: listener habits, regulation, or some combination of the two.
The Shift to Connected Listening is Already Here
The numbers leave little doubt about where listening is heading. Digital now makes up more than three-quarters of all radio listening by platform share, at 76 per cent, and online listening to all radio has reached a new high of 30.4 per cent — comfortably ahead of analogue AM and FM, which together account for 24 per cent. The device driving much of that change is the smart speaker, which now represents 18.8 per cent of total listening, rising to 21.8 per cent for commercial radio. The habit is deeply embedded, too: 65 per cent of smart speaker owners use their devices for radio, and 21 per cent listen every day. None of this has come at the expense of radio’s overall pull — 50.6 million adults, 87 per cent of the population, still tune in each week. The battleground, though, has plainly shifted onto connected devices.
Why the Connected Environment is a Threat, Not Just an Opportunity
That shift is not simply good news. On a smart speaker or in a connected car, a station sits one voice command away from Spotify, a podcast or an algorithmic playlist, and it is the platform — not the broadcaster — that owns the interface and sets the defaults. The government has put the risk in unusually blunt terms, acknowledging that UK radio is increasingly operating in an environment occupied by larger platforms with competing services and the capability to drive audiences elsewhere. The same attention economy extends across a wide range of digital sectors, from streaming entertainment and news to consumer-focused content covering topics such as casino bonuses and responsible gambling. The dangers that follow are practical rather than abstract: friction in finding a station by voice, platforms surfacing their own audio first, or content being substituted or interrupted. Each one quietly erodes radio’s share of attention, even while its weekly reach holds firm. This is the heart of the discoverability problem.
The Smart Speaker is the New Front Line
Nowhere is that problem sharper than on the smart speaker, and it is here that regulation has begun to respond. The question is a concrete one: does the right station play when a listener asks for it, and can the platform override that request? The Media Act 2024 supplies a backstop. For the first time, it brings voice-activated platforms such as smart speakers into regulation, requiring them to carry internet radio services that correspond to UK broadcast stations and to play those stations in response to spoken commands. The protections are specific. Designated platforms cannot charge UK stations for carrying their live services, cannot overlay their own content or advertising on top of them, and must reliably provide stations when asked. Ofcom is responsible for designating these “radio selection services” where they have significant UK use — Google’s Home and Nest devices have been flagged as likely to qualify — and published its draft recommendations in October 2025, with a code of practice still to follow.
The Connected Car — Radio’s Stronghold Under Pressure
The car has long been radio’s safest territory, but that, too, is changing. The modern dashboard is becoming a software platform in its own right, with infotainment systems surfacing competing apps in the space a radio preset once occupied. The new rules anticipate exactly this: the Media Act’s radio selection services are defined to cover not only smart speakers but connected car media systems, a recognition that the dashboard is now as contested as the kitchen counter. The implication for broadcasters is clear. Radio’s dominance behind the wheel is real, but it can no longer be assumed, and the same battles over access and prominence being fought in the living room will be fought in the car.
What Competing for Attention Actually Requires
Securing access, however, is only half the task — and the easier half. Regulation can guarantee radio a place on a device; it cannot make a listener choose it. That is where radio must lean on the strengths that on-demand libraries struggle to match: it is live, local, free and curated, and it remains the most trusted form of media in the country, reaching more than 85 per cent of UK adults every week, offering a sense of companionship an algorithm does not. Holding attention will demand continued investment — polished apps, dependable voice skills, clear branding and content that streaming cannot replicate. The stakes are not lost on policymakers: the government’s 2026 Radio Review is examining the future distribution of radio out to the early 2040s, including a possible managed FM switch-off in the 2030s and the role of AI.
Final Thoughts
Radio can compete on connected devices, but it must win on two fronts at once. The first is regulatory: a backstop that secures its presence and stops it from being buried, charged or talked over. The second is harder and commercial: retaining the audio that people actively reach for once it is in front of them. The data shows audiences are willingly following radio onto these platforms. Whether the medium can stay front-of-mind once it arrives is a question that regulation alone can not answer.