Three quarters of radio listening is via a digital platform

DAB+ and internet radio make up three quarters of overall radio use, with young people preferring IP radio and older listeners tuning in via DAB+. For every 100 minutes of radio listened to in cars, 62 are transmitted digitally.

In spring 2022, radio listeners used digital platforms for an average of 75 out of 100 minutes of radio every day. This was announced by the Digital Migration working group (WG DigiMig) at SwissRadioDay on 25 August 2022. Digital radio use has jumped 26 percentage points over the last six years, from 49% in autumn 2015 to 75% last spring. Meanwhile, FM use has halved over the same period, dropping from 51% to 25%. Only 13 out of 100 people surveyed said that they still listen to FM radio exclusively. Listening to the radio online accounts for around one third of radio listening, while DAB+ at 41% has clearly become the most popular digital radio technology.

A high plateau

The switch to digital radio is quite widespread and now seems to be reaching a high plateau, especially in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, where some 76% of radio use is either via DAB+ or the internet (72% in French-speaking Switzerland, 75% in Italian-speaking Switzerland).

Digital radio now accounts for at least around 70% of use in each age group. Digital migration is most advanced among 15- to 34-year-olds, at 82% of use; among this cohort, the internet is the most popular platform, with 44%. Digital radio accounts for 70% of radio use among listeners aged 55 and over.

Majority of car radio listening is digital

Home is by far the most popular place to listen to the radio (64% of all radio use). Some 18% of all radio listening takes place at work, mainly via DAB+ (44%) or the internet (36%). Radio listening in cars accounts for 12% of overall use. The highest proportion of radio use in cars is also via DAB+ (51%). Together with the 11% for internet listening, a total of 62% of radio use in cars is now digital.

Six million DAB+ radios sold – DAB+ is the standard in all new cars

Around 250,000 DAB+ radios were sold in Switzerland in the first half of 2022. An additional 125,000 DAB+ devices were fitted in vehicles. This pushes the total number of DAB+ radios in Switzerland up to around 6.25 million. In addition, a DAB+ radio was fitted as standard in 99.9% of all new cars.