Despite the weak retail market overall, sales of digital radios have increased dramatically over the past year, clocking up 100,000 units in Q3 2011 alone, and half a million since July last year. While the massive ad campaign across commercial radio stations no doubt helped spur sales, a significant fall in prices won’t have hurt either, with a Thomson DAB+ radio advertised last weekend for just $37.95 online at Aussie e-tailing giant oo.com.au.
Official data relating to digital radio in Australia was released by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) today, showing close to 100,000 DAB+ digital radios were sold in Q3 2011 alone, according to the GfK Marketscope report, bringing the total number of DAB+ digital radios sold since August 2009 to 603,932.
These figures also highlight the fact that nearly 500,000 additional digital radios have been sold since July 2010 at which point sales of digital radios were at 150,000.
The recent sales figures include the Father’s Day retail cycle in which 42 commercial radio stations in the five state metropolitan capitals played a series of digital radio Father’s Day ads that focused on the affordability of digital radio, using the tagline “from as little as $59”.
Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer, Joan Warner said, “These are great sales figures and show that radio’s call to action to our listeners to try and buy digital radios continues to work, even in a tough retail environment.”
Official Nielsen radio survey results for metropolitan Survey 7 2011, show that the number of people listening to digital radio is moving rapidly towards the 1 million mark with 940,000 people listening to digital radio each week.
7.6 % of listening to radio is now via a DAB+ digital radio device in the five state metropolitan capitals with Time Spent Listening (TSL) to radio via a DAB+ digital radio device also continuing to grow at nearly 12 hours per week (11 hrs 56 mins). TSL to digital radios has once again outstripped TSL to radio via the internet which is at 5 hours and 56 minutes.
Ms Warner said CRA is now developing the strategy for a digital radio Christmas campaign with details to be announced in early December.