Almost a third of adults now listen to radio via the internet, according to new research by official industry measurement body Rajar.
The group’s third annual survey of online listening habits, based on 1,400 responses and published this morning, found that 7.2 million people said they had downloaded a podcast at least once.
Rajar research manager Christel Lacaze said the high-profile launch of the BBC iPlayer, which includes live streaming of all BBC national and local radio stations, had helped boost online listening.
Key findings:
- 31.7% of respondents (an estimated 16 million people) listen to online radio, compared with 14.5 million in the last survey.
- The vast majority of internet radio listening takes place at home (89%).
- 4.1 million say they listen to a podcast each week (up from 3.7 million in May).
- The average podcast user subscribes to 4.41 podcasts and spent just over an hour listening to them in the previous week.
- Three quarters of users listen to podcasts directly on their personal computer.
- 78% of podcasts users listen to podcasts that are more than a week old.
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