Contents
- Audio listening time statistics: Weekly radio and music listening hours
- Audio listening time statistics by radio platform: UK platform shares
- Audio listening time statistics at home and at work
- Audio listening time statistics for radio listening in vehicles
- Audio listening time statistics by broadcaster and station
- Audio listening time statistics across music and podcast audiences
- Sources
Audio listening time statistics: Weekly radio and music listening hours
Audio listening time statistics cover several measures, and their populations and time units matter. In Q1 2024, people aged 15 and over in the UK listened to live radio for an average of 20.5 hours per week. Just under 50 million people in that age group tuned in. The average duration and the audience count describe different things: one is time spent listening, while the other is reach. Source: Ofcom, Media Nations: UK 2024, overview and “Live radio listening”
A U.S. measure covers a broader mix of audio. Consumers listened for an average of 3 hours and 54 minutes per day in Q1 2025 across ad-supported and ad-free platforms, including radio, podcasts, streaming music services and satellite radio. This is a daily average across formats, rather than a radio-only measure or a direct counterpart to the UK weekly figure. Source: Nielsen, The Record: Q1 U.S. audio listening trends
For music listening, IFPI reported an average of 20.7 hours per week in 2023 across its 18 core territories. The online populations covered were aged 16–64, and fieldwork ran from August to October 2023. A separate IFPI chart describes how respondents spent hours engaging with music across 26 countries. Its categories include video and live music, so the percentages below describe music engagement, not audio-only listening.
| Music-engagement activity | Share of engagement hours |
|---|---|
| Audio streaming, subscription and free tiers | 32% |
| Video streaming, long- and short-form | 31% |
| Music on the radio, including live, catch-up and internet radio | 17% |
| Purchased music, including CDs, vinyl, DVDs and downloads | 9% |
| Ad-supported audio streaming | 8% |
| Other forms, including TV, video services and music sharing | 7% |
| Live music, including livestreaming | 4% |
The 20.7-hour weekly duration and this engagement mix have different scopes and denominators. The duration concerns music listening among online populations in the core 18 territories; the mix describes time engaging with music across 26 countries. Source: IFPI, Engaging with Music 2023, p. 6 and methodology p. 3
Audio listening time statistics by radio platform: UK platform shares
Ofcom’s Q1 2025 platform figures divide UK radio listening hours by reception method. DAB accounted for 42% of hours, AM/FM for 27%, smart speakers for 18%, other online devices for 11%, and digital television for 3%. DAB includes DAB+, for which RAJAR does not provide a separate figure. Digital television is self-classified by respondents and may include IPTV or television delivered over the internet. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 3
The snapshots below show how the platform distribution was reported at three points. They are shares of radio listening hours, not percentages of people using each platform.
| Quarter | AM/FM | DAB | DTV | Smart speaker | Other online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2018 | 49% | 37% | 5% | Not reported | 9% |
| Q1 2022 | 32% | 41% | 4% | 10% | 12% |
| Q1 2025 | 27% | 42% | 3% | 18% | 11% |
The Q1 2018 chart does not provide a smart-speaker figure. Ofcom also notes a fieldwork suspension between Q1 2020 and Q3 2021 and subsequent methodology changes, so comparisons around that period need care. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 3 and notes
Audio listening time statistics at home and at work
Location figures describe where UK radio listening occurred. In Q1 2025, 61% of weekly hours were at home, 26% in cars, vans or lorries, and 13% at work or elsewhere. The same figure reports total weekly UK radio listening of 1.04 billion hours. Its location shares and total-hours series are separate indicators. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 8
| Quarter | Total weekly UK radio hours | At home | Cars, vans or lorries | At work or elsewhere |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2005 | 1.06 billion | 69% | 16% | 14% |
| Q1 2008 | 1.03 billion | 63% | 20% | 16% |
| Q1 2020 | Not reported here | 59% | 24% | Not reported here |
| Q1 2025 | 1.04 billion | 61% | 26% | 13% |
The snapshots show the home share at 69% in Q1 2005 and 61% in Q1 2025; the vehicle share was 16% and 26% at those same endpoints. For Q1 2020, the cited chart provides the home and vehicle shares shown above. In Q1 2019, work or elsewhere accounted for 16% of UK radio hours. Ofcom labels the series as RAJAR with 12-month weighting. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 8 and accompanying narrative
Audio listening time statistics for radio listening in vehicles
Ofcom’s Figure 8 narrative reports 266 million weekly UK radio-listening hours in cars, vans and lorries in Q1 2025, compared with 172 million in Q1 2005. For at-home radio, it reports 636 million weekly hours in Q1 2025 and 733 million in Q1 2005. These are location-based estimates from the Figure 8 series. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, narrative accompanying Figure 8
Figure 9 is a separate series on the platform mix for radio listening in vehicles. It reports 263 million total weekly hours in Q1 2025, with 56% via DAB, 36% via AM/FM and 7% via any internet. The 263 million figure differs from Figure 8’s 266 million estimate; these values belong to different chart series. Figure 9 counts radio listening recorded as internet or smart speaker in “any internet,” and DAB includes DAB+. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 9
| Quarter | In-car radio hours per week | AM/FM | DAB | Any internet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2019 | 243 million | 58% | 40% | 2% |
| Q1 2024 | 253 million | 36% | 57% | 7% |
| Q1 2025 | 263 million | 36% | 56% | 7% |
A different measure covers all in-car audio time in IPA TouchPoints 2024 SuperHub. Live radio represented 74%, music streaming services 16%, podcasts 4%, personal music 3% and audiobooks 2%. These are format shares of in-car audio listening time, not platform shares within radio listening. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 10
Audio listening time statistics by broadcaster and station
In Q1 2024, BBC stations accounted for 43.4% of all UK radio listening and commercial radio accounted for 54.2%. Average weekly time per listener was 14.2 hours for BBC stations and 14.0 hours for commercial stations. The shares describe the distribution of listening, while the hour averages describe duration among listeners to each group. Source: Ofcom, Media Nations: UK 2024, p. 60
Ofcom’s Figure 51 reports average hours per listener for national stations and networks in Q1 2024. BBC Radio 4 averaged 12.3 hours per listener per week and BBC Radio 2 averaged 10.6. Among the commercial services listed, Classic FM averaged 8.4 hours and Greatest Hits Radio 8.3. These are station-level listening averages, not audience shares. Source: Ofcom, Media Nations: UK 2024, Figure 51
Other Figure 51 averages for Q1 2024 were Smooth Radio at 6.5 hours per listener per week; Heart and Hits Radio at 6.4 each; BBC Radio 1 at 6.3; BBC Radio 5 Live at 6.0; and Capital at 4.7. The figures use the same per-listener weekly-duration measure for each listed service. Source: Ofcom, Media Nations: UK 2024, Figure 51
Audio listening time statistics across music and podcast audiences
Edison Research’s Share of Ear series estimates 773 million podcast-listening hours per week for the U.S. population aged 13+ in 2025. The same series reports 170 million weekly hours for that population in 2015. These are total weekly hours across the population, not average listening time per podcast listener. Source: Edison Research, The Podcast Consumer 2025, p. 7
For listener segments, the report gives an average of 9 hours and 24 minutes of podcast listening per week for podcast fans, compared with 5 hours and 33 minutes for casual listeners. The comparison is attributed to The Fandom Phenomenon survey from Wondery and Edison Research. The report defines fans as listeners scoring 5+ on a self-reported 10-point scale; the page does not specify the survey date. Source: Edison Research, The Podcast Consumer 2025, p. 28
The measures in these sections describe different things: weekly duration per listener, population-wide weekly totals, a daily cross-platform average, and shares of engagement or listening hours. Their stated populations, periods and denominators are part of each figure’s meaning.