O digital na GB é um caso especial

«The digital revolution and the expansion of new ways of accessing information through the internet has given a huge boost to one of the older and more traditional forms of electronic media - the radio. According to figures released yesterday, the digital age has created a new golden age of radio, with the number of listeners in Britain at a record high of more than 45 millionevery week. The figure for the last three months of 2006 is the highest since Radio Joint Audience Research (Rajar) began compiling records in 1992, and is attributed to growing numbers of people tuning in on the internet, digital television and mobile phones. Rajar said almost 8 per cent of people aged 15 and above listen to the radio on their mobile phones, a 24 per cent increase over the same period of 2005. A quarter of 15- to 24-year-olds said they tuned in this way. Listening over the internet rose by 10 per cent and by 9 per cent on digital television. Podcasts are also more popular. More than two million people, the equivalent of 17 per cent of all owners of MP3 players, listen to the audio downloads - a rise of 15 per cent on the previous three months. The figures are likely to rise as more content is made available as a podcast. Jenny Abramsky, the BBC's director of audio and music, said: "It proves radio still plays an incredibly important part in people's lives and, despite the range of new media available, listeners continue to value the close relationship they have with radio." (...) Radio 2 remains the nation's favourite station with an audience of 13.27 million - up 530,000 in three months. (...) Radio 1's audience of 10.26 million was down 320,000 on the previous quarter, which the station attributed to a seasonal dip. (...) Jane Thynne, a broadcasting critic and writer, said BBC radio was benefiting more from the digital era than television. "The figures show that early adopters are prepared to embrace what has traditionally been seen as the more fustier of mediums. "Radio, as something which is intensely personal, is also a much more suitable medium for podcasting than television... It's essentially what radio has been doing for a long while anyway."»

fonte: The Independent, «Radio enters a new golden age as digital use takes off», Terry Kirby, 02 February 2007