The global growth of DAB+ digital radio is being marked on World Radio Day with the release of a new infographic from WorldDAB.
Device sales are now nearing the 150 million milestone according to the updated graphic. The fast-growing markets of France and Australia are leading the way with sales of receivers now over 10 million each. Sales of digital radios in core markets now total 145,195,000. Almost all new cars across Europe come with DAB+ as standard.
In the UK cumulative DAB/DAB+ radio receiver sales (including ‘line fit automotive’) have reached 55,593,000. The total is more than 27 million sales ahead of Germany with 28,300,000. Italy, France and Australia complete the top five countries. More than sixty national radio stations are available on DAB/DAB+ in the UK compared to seven on analogue radio.
In France DAB+ coverage now exceeds 60% of the population, while in Spain the recent addition of transmitters covering the metropolitan areas of Valladolid and Zaragosa means public broadcaster RTVE is heading towards the goal of 50% coverage.
Denmark leads the way on total DAB/DAB+ network coverage, with 99.9% of the population able to receive digital stations. Norway has the highest rate of DAB/DAB+ receiver penetration at 70%. The country completely switched off its national FM services in December 2017.
The infographic also shows the population coverage in emerging markets with trial and regular DAB+ services, such as Sweden, Ukraine and Turkey.
WorldDAB President Jacqueline Bierhorst said: “13 February is an important day in the global calendar for anyone as passionate about broadcast radio as me and the members of the WorldDAB family. Today we can share new data showing how DAB+ continues to grow in both new and established markets around the world. This, coupled with our new DAB+ Automatic Safety Alerts, which can provide life-saving warnings of environmental emergencies such as storms and flooding, demonstrates the critical role of broadcast radio.”
The new infographic shows the status of digital radio rollout in 25 emerging markets, as well as an overview of coverage and sales of receivers. It also shows how many national stations are broadcast on DAB/DAB+ compared to FM. It can be downloaded from the WorldDAB website at: https://www.worlddab.org/resources/infographic
World Radio Day, marked every February 13, is an International Day adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The theme for this year is “radio and climate change.”