Analysis of publicly available data concerning sales volumes of DAB digital radio receivers in the UK in 2010, written by Grant Goddard in January 2011 for Grant Goddard: Radio Blog.

1. DAB DIGITAL RADIO RECEIVER
SALES IN 2010 IN THE UK: WHAT
WAS THE ACTUAL NUMBER?
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
January 2011

2. On 21 December 2010, a press release from Digital Radio UK announced that “12 million
digital radios have been sold in total in the UK” and predicted that:
 “due to strong Christmas sales, over 2m digital radios will be sold during 2010
 A cumulative total of 20 million digital radios will be sold by the end of 2013.”
It takes a brave person to predict in mid-December what a year-end sales figure will be. More
so with DAB radio receivers because, in previous years, the month of December alone has
accounted for more than a quarter of annual sales.
It takes an even braver person to predict that, by year-end 2013, an additional 8m digital
radios will have been sold. Whether or not 2m units were actually sold in 2010, we do know
that just under 2m units had been sold in 2009, and just over 2m units in 2008 and in 2007. So
please can Digital Radio UK explain what revolutionary change will ensure that sales suddenly
spurt during 2011, 2012 and 2013? Buy one, get one free?
Perhaps this new ‘20m by 2013’ figure was forecast by the same party that produced earlier
forecasts for the Digital Radio Development Bureau, the forerunner of Digital Radio UK. As the
graph above demonstrates, none of those forecasts made in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 were
rooted in an analysis of reality. If they were, then 24.5m digital radios would have been sold by
now. Whereas, the actual figure is 12m, less than half the forecast for 2010 the industry had
made four years ago.
It is interesting to note that all the recent sales figures offered by DAB lobbyists refer to ‘digital
radios’ rather than ‘DAB radios.’ One wonders exactly how many internet radio receivers have
been sold in the UK and are being used to prop up the illusion that DAB radio is some kind of
success story with consumers. When I have asked for a breakout of internet radio sales, data
were not supplied.
If, as the Digital Radio UK press release shouts, a “digital radio landmark” was really achieved
in December 2010, then why are the recorded UK monthly and quarterly sales figures for DAB
radios not available from the Digital Radio UK web site for the public to admire? (Maybe
because the Digital Radio UK web site is completely empty.)
The chief executive of Digital Radio UK was quoted last week saying: "There is now real
momentum in the transition to digital radio.”
“Real momentum” is not what the sales data for DAB receivers, even those few estimated
figures released by Digital Radio UK, demonstrate to be the reality.
DAB Digital Radio Receiver Sales In 2010 In The UK: What Was The Actual Number? page 2
©2011 Grant Goddard

3. DAB Digital Radio Receiver Sales In 2010 In The UK: What Was The Actual Number? page 3
©2011 Grant Goddard
[First published by Grant Goddard: Radio Blog as 'DAB Radio Receiver Sales In 2010: What Was The Actual
Number?', 18 January 2011.]
Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk