Commercial radio and DAB+ have ended 2023 on a high with record listening as evidenced in GfK Radio 360 Survey 8. Radio across the five metros had 12.25 million listeners aged 10+, with cumulative audiences also up 49K YOY.

82.4% of Australian are listening weekly with that percentage actually higher in people aged 10-24 at 87.2%.

Listening to breakfast radio increased 35,000 to an 8.7 million audience, with the often associated in car listening also up 2.3% this year, also contributing to the growth in DAB+ consumption.

Commercial Radio & Audio CEO Ford Ennals said:

“2023 has been a boom year for commercial radio as more listeners discovered the great content available on DAB+ only stations, while remaining completely engaged with listening to their favourite commercial radio stars and stations.

Since 2021, listeners of commercial radio DAB+ only stations have grown by a massive 48%. Audiences are loving the great new content being added by the commercial networks, and DAB+ is easier to access than ever.” 

Survey 8 showed commercial radio station listening via a DAB+ device rather than an AM/FM receiver (also called simulcasting) was used by 4.6 million listeners, with 37.4% of commercial radio listeners tuning-in via a DAB+ device. Listening via a device was 69.1% for AM/FM, 21.8% was via DAB+, and 9.1% via streaming.

The number of DAB+ only commercial radio station listeners was up 6% from 2022 and grew 14.2% this year to an average 2.8 million listeners over the eight 2023 GfK surveys.