Almost 100 years on since commercial radio launched in Australia, the number of listeners keeps climbing, with GfK Radio Survey 7 showing a 50,000 jump in commercial radio listeners to 12.2 million year-on-year.

Younger audiences are also falling in love with radio, with the 18-24 demographic up 5,000 year-on-year to 1.4 million, with time spent listening each week up 2 hours 15 minutes to 11 hours 44 minutes.

“After 100 years of commercial radio in Australia, it is still a much-loved part of our everyday lives – with 12.2 million listeners,” said Ford Ennals, CEO of Commercial Radio & Audio.

“This survey has delivered excellent results for the growth of DAB and also shows that all audiences, young and old, love radio.”

Survey 7 delivered a record high result for commercial DAB stations, with a 4.4% year on year increase of listeners aged 10+ to 2.9 million.

“The digital radio revolution rolls on, with listeners turning into commercial DAB-only stations hitting a record high of almost 3 million listeners, and commercial radio streaming audiences at 3.1 million,” Mr Ennals said.

“We are seeing younger audiences discovering commercial DAB-only stations, with the 10-24 demographic growing by 5.5% to a record high of 870,000.”

More than 26% of commercial radio listeners are now listening via streaming each week.

Survey 7 also showed the car is the most popular place to tune in, with in car listening increasing by 0.6% year on year to 9.7 million. Time spent listening in car also grew by 8 minutes to 5.5 hours.

Breakfast radio remains a staple, continuing to grow audiences with a year-on-year increase of 1.9% to 8.6 million.

Survey 7 also delivered strong growth for Drive audiences, up 1.8% compared to this time last year to 7.4 million.

Commercial radio audiences were at record levels for this survey when comparing previous Survey 7 results. Commercial radio was launched in Australia 100 years ago on 23 November 2023.