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Radio and audio

One in five (18 per cent) households use the internet to listen to the radio

Some 91.6 per cent of the adults listened to the radio in the first quarter of 2011, up by 1 percentage point on 2010.

One in five (18 per cent) households use the internet to listen to the radio.

Listener hours rose to 1.04 billion per week in 2010, up by 2.1 per cent year on year.

National commercial stations saw the largest increase, up 7 per cent year on year.

UK radio industry income totalled 1.1 billion in 2010, up by 2.8 per cent in a year.

Over a quarter (26.5 per cent) of all listening was via a digital radio platform in the first quarter of 2011, 2.5 percentage points higher than in 2010.

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BBC radio stations accounted for a 45 per cent share of total listening in Scotland lower than its corresponding share in any of the other nations.

In the year ending 31 March 2011, local commercial stations accounted for 40 per cent of total radio listening hours in Scotland, a higher share for this group than in any other UK nation (UK average is 32 per cent).

Three in ten adults in Scotland (31 per cent) who listen to the radio told us they have a DAB radio set at home.

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More people in Wales listen to the radio, and for longer, than listeners in the UKs other nations.

On average 93 per cent of the Welsh public listen to the radio every week and the average weekly listening was 23 hours and 18 minutes per person, compared to the UK average of 91 per cent listening and 22 hours and 18 minutes per person.

Some 62 per cent of the radio listening hours in Wales were to BBC services. Local commercial stations attracted a share of 26 per cent (UK average of 32 per cent).

Commercial radio revenue per head in Wales was also the lowest of all four nations and stands at 5.41, compared with the UK at 6.58.

Twenty seven per cent of adults in Wales say they have a DAB radio set.

This is the lowest across the Nations and ten percentage points below the UK average of 37 per cent.

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In an average week 92 per cent of adults in Northern Ireland listen to the radio higher than the UK average of 91 per cent.

 BBC local/national stations are particularly popular in Northern Ireland, with a 22 per cent share (compared to a 9 per cent share across the UK).

Local commercial radio also performs well, with an audience share of 34 per cent in Northern Ireland, second only to Scotland across the UK.

Some 22 per cent of people say radio is their primary source of news the highest proportion in any of the UK nations.

Twenty eight per cent of people said they own a DAB radio, less than the UK average of 37 per cent, but up 6 percentage points on last year.

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People in England listen to the radio less than they watch TV, at an average of 3.2 hours per day.

BBC radio stations accounted for a 56 per cent share of total listening in England.

Local commercial (31 per cent) and national commercial (11 per cent) accounting for the majority of the remaining listener hours.

Some 39 per cent say they own a DAB radio, higher than the UK average of 37 per cent.

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Global radio revenue was up by 5% year on year, reaching £29bn in 2010, following a 9% fall between 2008 and 2009.

Radio listening remains popular, with three quarters of consumers in France and Italy (75% and 74% respectively) listening to the radio on a weekly basis, compared to 67% in the UK.

Using the internet to download or listen to audio content was most popular in Italy, with nearly half (46%) of respondents using their home internet connection for this purpose.  The equivalent figure for the UK was 38%, in line with the average response rate among the countries surveyed.

Almost a quarter (24%) of consumers in the UK used their mobile phones to listen to MP3 tracks in 2010, compared to just short of a third for Germany and Italy (30% and 29% respectively).

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