Rajar, the radio audience measurement body, found that the number of people listening to radio via digital means has almost doubled over the past year.
Breaking the figures down, Rajar found that in 2005, 10.5% of the total radio listening audience tuned in via digital means. Of the total audience, 5.5% were using digital radios, 2.9% used digital television, and 1.8% tuned in via the internet, the same as for 2004.
In 2004, the people tuning in to radio via traditional AM/FM receivers accounted for 81.8% of the total listening hours. In 2005, this figure fell to 74.8%, against rises for all the digital formats.
In addition, the number of radio listeners who say they own a DAB receiver or listen to the radio via digital television or the internet has increased by 4.7m or 25% when compared with a Rajar survey undertaken a year ago.
Sally de la Bedoyere, managing director of Rajar, said: "The findings of the latest Rajar Listening Via Platform Survey make encouraging reading for the digital radio industry in the UK.
"While listening via digital, digital TV and internet receivers has been gradually increasing over the past year, listening via DAB has grown by a staggering 165%."
Coinciding with the news, Virgin Radio has announced that Virgin Radio Classic Rock and Virgin Radio Xtreme are to be added Telewest's digital TV platform from November 22.
The tie-in increases the reach of Virgin Radio's digital-only channels so that a further 1.2m subscribers can tune in. The stations are already available via DAB Digital Radio, on Sky Digital and across the internet.
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