Radio remains a mass-audience medium in the UK. In Q1 2025, 87% of UK adults aged 15 and over listened in an average week, while total listening reached 1,026.885 million hours weekly.
Key Radio Listening Statistics
The most useful headline measures are:
- 87% of UK adults aged 15+ listened to radio in an average week in Q1 2025.
- 50.078 million UK adults aged 15+ were reached weekly by radio in Q1 2025.
- UK radio generated 1,026.885 million listening hours per week in Q1 2025.
- The average UK radio listener spent 20.5 hours listening each week in Q1 2025.
- Commercial radio accounted for 54.9% of UK weekly radio hours in Q1 2025.
- The BBC accounted for 43.1% of UK weekly radio hours in Q1 2025.
- All commercial radio reached 39.873 million UK adults weekly in Q1 2025.
- All BBC radio reached 31.392 million UK adults weekly in Q1 2025.
- DAB represented 42% of UK radio listening hours in Q1 2025.
- Online radio represented 28% of UK radio listening hours in Q1 2025.
- Smart speakers represented 18% of UK radio listening hours in Q1 2025.
- Live radio made up 56% of weekly audio listening time for the average UK listener in 2024/25.
- Live radio made up 27% of weekly audio listening time among UK 15–34-year-olds in 2024/25.
- Radio listening in cars reached 263 million weekly hours in Q1 2025.
- At-home radio listening totalled 635 million weekly hours in Q1 2025.
- Car radio listening increased 54% between Q1 2005 and Q1 2025 in the UK.
- The UK commercial-radio relevant turnover was £651 million in 2024.
- Community-radio revenues declined 1% to £13.7 million in 2024.
Contents
- Weekly reach, audience scale and listening hours
- Broadcaster listening statistics
- Platform and device statistics
- Age and location listening data
- Long-term radio listening trends
- Revenue and community-radio funding
Radio Listening Statistics: Weekly Reach, Audience Scale and Listening Hours
RAJAR’s Q1 2025 measurement covered a UK 15+ survey universe of 57.640 million people. Within that population, radio reached 50.078 million adults weekly, equivalent to 87% of adults aged 15 and over.
| Measure | Q1 2025 result | Definition and geography |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly radio reach | 50.078 million | UK adults 15+, including Channel Islands and Isle of Man |
| Weekly reach | 87% | UK adults 15+ |
| Total weekly listening | 1,026.885 million hours | UK 15+ |
| Average listening | 20.5 hours per listener | UK 15+ listeners |
Source: Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening: Q1 2025.
The 20.5-hour average applies to listeners, not to every resident in the survey universe. The total-hours estimate and reach percentage are related measures, but they should not be treated as interchangeable.
Ofcom’s comparison shows total weekly radio listening rising from 1.012 billion hours in Q1 2022 to 1.027 billion in Q1 2025. Over the same three-year period, average weekly radio reach fell by 2 percentage points, indicating that a small change in reach can coexist with a broadly stable total-hours measure.
Source: Communications Market Report 2025.
Radio Listening Statistics by Broadcaster: BBC, Commercial and Network Totals
Commercial radio led the UK’s weekly-hours split in Q1 2025, with 54.9% of hours compared with 43.1% for all BBC radio. The groups are reported across platforms, and their shares describe listening hours rather than unique audience size.
| Broadcaster group | Weekly reach | Weekly hours | Share of weekly hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| All commercial radio | 39.873 million | 563.364 million | 54.9% |
| All BBC radio | 31.392 million | 442.294 million | 43.1% |
Source: Communications Market Report 2025 and Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening: Q1 2025.
RAJAR reported an average of 14.1 hours per week among BBC listeners and the same 14.1-hour average among commercial-radio listeners. The equal averages do not mean the two groups are identical, because the reach and total-hours measures differ.
Within the BBC figures, network radio reached 28.726 million UK adults weekly. BBC Local Radio reached 7.065 million adults in its measured half-year period ending Q1 2025; RAJAR labels this local-radio measure as H rather than Q.
Commercial radio also has national and local components. National commercial radio reached 28.299 million UK adults weekly, while local commercial radio reached 27.004 million in the national TSA local-commercial group.
Source for the broadcaster breakdown: Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening: Q1 2025.
Radio Listening Statistics by Platform: DAB, AM/FM, Online and Smart Speakers
In Q1 2025, radio sets using AM/FM or DAB/DAB+ together accounted for 69% of UK radio listening hours. DAB alone contributed 42%, while AM/FM contributed 27%.
| Platform or route | Share of UK radio hours, Q1 2025 | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| DAB | 42% | UK radio listening hours |
| AM/FM | 27% | UK radio listening hours |
| Online radio | 28% | UK radio listening hours |
| Smart speakers | 18% | UK radio listening hours |
Source: Communications Market Report 2025.
These platform shares describe different routes into listening and can overlap conceptually. Smart-speaker listening is an online route, so the figures should not be added together as if they were mutually exclusive categories.
Smart speakers’ share rose by 2 percentage points between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025. Online radio’s share rose by 6 percentage points from Q1 2022 to Q1 2025, while DAB remained above four in ten hours from Q3 2021 through Q1 2025.
Among commercial-radio listening specifically, online accounted for 32.3% of hours and smart speakers for 21.4% in Q1 2025. Those commercial-radio percentages are not the same measure as the UK-wide platform shares.
Radio Listening Statistics by Age and Listening Location
Ofcom’s 2024/25 audio-listening evidence used a different measurement framework from RAJAR. For the average UK listener, live radio represented 56% of weekly audio listening time; among 15–34-year-olds, it represented 27%.
For UK adults aged 15 and over, live radio on a radio set represented 44% of audio time and online live radio represented 12%. The same audio-time comparison allocated 24% to streamed music, 6% to podcasts and 3% to audiobooks.
Among 15–34-year-olds, online live radio represented 5% of audio time. These shares compare live radio with other audio categories, rather than measuring radio-only platform shares.
Source: Media Nations 2025: UK Report.
Listening location also changes the picture. Radio listening in cars reached 263 million weekly hours in Q1 2025, and cars, vans and lorries accounted for 26% of live-radio listening.
At-home listening totalled 635 million weekly hours in the same quarter. Location totals and platform shares describe separate attributes of listening and should not be combined into a single audience count.
Radio Listening Trends: Cars, Homes, Online Audio and DAB
The long-term location pattern is uneven. Ofcom reported car radio listening increasing 54%, from 171 million weekly hours in Q1 2005 to 263 million in Q1 2025, while at-home radio listening decreased 13%, from 733 million to 635 million weekly hours over the same period.
Source: Media Nations 2025: UK Report. The percentage changes are Ofcom-reported comparisons and are not independently recalculated here.
Online live radio’s share of average UK audio time increased from 5% in 2019 to 12% in 2024/25. Among UK 15–34-year-olds, the corresponding share increased from 4% in 2019 to 5% in 2024/25.
The national picture also contains differences. DAB represented 31.5% of radio listening in Northern Ireland in Q1 2025, down 3.2 percentage points year on year from Q1 2024; this is a nation-specific measure, not a UK-wide result.
Radio Listening Statistics: Commercial Revenue and Community-Radio Funding
Audience scale connects to a substantial commercial market. UK commercial-radio relevant turnover was £651 million in 2024, down 2% year on year; the measure is broadcasting-related nominal turnover.
Community radio operates on a much smaller financial base. Community-radio revenues declined 1% to £13.7 million in 2024, while total income fell 9% to £13 million; revenue and total income are distinct sector measures.
Source: Communications Market Report 2025.
The UK Community Radio Fund received £400,000 annually for the last 20 years through 2024/25, excluding occasional uplifts. In 2024/25, Ofcom received 161 applications requesting £3.39 million.
Twenty-seven applicants received awards totalling £467,197.20, while 134 applicants were unsuccessful. These counts describe applications and awards from the Ofcom fund, not the number of unique stations or completed projects.
Source: Media Nations 2025: UK Report.