DAB radio sales near 6.5 million mark
Nearly one-third of UK homes are predicted to have DAB radio by the end of the year, after DAB radio sales surged in the final months of 2007.
The Digital Radio Development Bureau, which released the figures compiled by market researchers The GfK Group, said sales in December were up by 22% year on year, to make last Christmas the most successful for the product.
One million DAB radios were bought during the fourth quarter of 2007, with 550,000 being snapped up in December alone, as John Lewis reported selling as many as six a minute at one point in the pre-Christmas rush.
The strong quarter puts the cumulative number of DAB sets sold in the UK in 2007 at 6.45 million, up from 4.4 million at the end of 2006.
The Digital Radio Development Bureau is now forecasting sales for 2008 of 2.6 million, bringing the cumulative total to 9.1 million and household penetration to 30%.
As well as conventional portable DAB radios, DAB clock radios were a particularly popular choice in Q4.
The increase in sales comes as several commercial radio stations air ads promoting the platform to listeners.
Acting Digital Radio Development Bureau chief executive Paul Brown said that at a time when parts of the radio industry were rethinking digital strategy, it was crucial not to lose sight of the many consumers who consider DAB radios a "valued medium". 
1 comment:
Greg Turtle comments:
A huge Christmas surge of DAB radio sales has led to a prediction of 30% penetration of UK homes by the end of this year. It is encouraging news for the industry as the uptake of radios until then was behind schedule. The lack of listeners has forced some digital stations to cease transmission or require a takeover. If this new end of year target is met or even surpassed then the future of digital radio seems to be ensured. The RAB will still hope to see consistent sales of the units though, and will not want to wait until Christmas this year to see good sales figures again. The next RAJAR figures should support these sales figures, showing an increased number of digital station listeners.
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