Digital Radio for Ireland: Competing Options, Public Expectations - BCI

Figure
4.6:
Types
of
radio
in
household
Ireland
Source:
JNLR/TNS
MRBI
2009
The
receivers
available
in
Irish
households
are
unsurprisingly
of
a
fixed
radio
(88%)
or
car
radio
(87%)
type
yet
there
is
evidence
of
a
growing
diversity
of
platforms
for
radio
listening
with
over
40%
of
the
population
reporting
they
can
receive
radio
via
TV,
on
a
PC,
on
a
mobile
phone
or
MP3
player.
The
figure
 of
 5%
 (or
 180,000
 people)
 reporting
 that
 they
 own
 or
 have
 a
 digital
 radio
 (DAB)
 in
 their
household
 needs
 to
 be
 treated
 with
 some
 caution.
 
 There
 are
 no
 official
 figures
 available
 for
 the
numbers
of
DAB
receivers
sold
in
the
Irish
market.
There
is
no
central
collection
of
retail
statistics
on
radio
receivers
and
future
research
will
need
focus
on
this
area.
The
best
estimate
is
that
up
to
the
end
of
December
2008
there
were
approximately
20,000
receivers
sold. 37 
Therefore,
the
5%
installed
receiver
 base
 is
 likely
 to
 be
 an
 overestimate
 given
 the
 relatively
 early
 stage
 of
 development
 of
 the
market
in
Ireland.
A
 number
 of
 retailers
 were
 contacted
 for
 this
 research
 to
 assess
 the
 level
 of
 interest
 in
 DAB
 and
internet
 receivers.
 According
 to
 Peats
 –
 World
 of
 Electronics,
 DAB
 radio
 sets
 would
 not
 be
 a
particularly
important
consumer
electronics
item
at
present
though
there
was
something
of
a
surge
of
interest
 in
 them,
 especially
 around
 Christmas
 time
 and
 other
 holiday
 periods.
 According
 to
 the
spokesperson,
given
the
improvement
in
broadband
availability
there
was
now
much
greater
interest
in
internet
radio
receivers
particularly
among
international
customers.
Retailers
report
that
among
the
factors
that
influence
purchase
most
is
the
ability
to
receive
stations
from
abroad

and
frequently
the
first
question
a
customer
will
ask
when
enquiring
about
radio
receivers
is:
‘Will
I
be
able
to
listen
to
BBC
on
this?’
37 
Interview,
JP
Coakley,
Head
of
Operations,
RTÉ
Radio,
reporting
retail
estimates.
75