Contents
- In car audio listening statistics: how much radio listening happens on the road
- In car audio listening statistics: radio platforms and connected audio
- In car audio listening statistics: devices listeners use in vehicles
- In car audio listening statistics: differences by age group
- in car audio listening: Car audio listening: broadcast, streaming, and on-demand formats
- In car audio listening statistics: changes over time and measurement caveats
- Sources
In car audio listening statistics: how much radio listening happens on the road
In the UK, cars, vans and lorries account for a substantial share of live-radio listening. Ofcom’s 2026 headline estimate puts that share at 26%. This measure describes where UK live-radio listening happens; it is not the share of people who listen to radio in a vehicle, nor the share of all audio listening that takes place there. Source: Ofcom, “Top trends from our latest audio listening research”
The vehicle is also the sole place some adults listen to radio. Ofcom estimates that 11.7 million UK adults listened to radio exclusively in a car, van or lorry in a typical week in 2026. The same series recorded 2.6 million adults a week in 2006. These figures count people whose radio listening is exclusive to a vehicle, a narrower group than everyone who listens to radio while travelling. Source: Ofcom, “Top trends from our latest audio listening research”
A separate measure captures listening hours. In Q1 2025, UK in-car radio listening reached 266 million hours per week, compared with 172 million weekly hours in Q1 2005. Both figures cover listening in cars, vans and lorries. They show the size of the weekly listening total at those two points; they do not identify the reasons for the difference. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 8
These measures offer different views of in-car radio: location share, number of adults who listen only in a vehicle, and weekly hours. They should be read separately because their units and populations differ.
In car audio listening statistics: radio platforms and connected audio
In Q1 2025, DAB accounted for 56% of UK in-car radio listening, while internet delivery accounted for 7%. Ofcom’s definition of “Any internet” includes internet or smart-speaker radio listening, and its DAB category includes DAB+. These percentages describe radio listening in vehicles, not all audio played in them. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, in-car listening discussion and Figure 9
The quarterly series shows how the measured shares varied at selected points. The figures below reproduce complete platform snapshots for the quarters with all three platform shares specified in the checked evidence.
| Quarter | AM/FM | DAB | Any internet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2019 | 58% | 40% | 2% |
| Q3 2021 | 47% | 47% | 6% |
| Q3 2024 | 31% | 65% | 4% |
The snapshots show DAB’s share higher in Q3 2024 than in Q1 2019, while AM/FM’s share was lower; “Any internet” remained a smaller share in each of these observations. The Q3 2021 snapshot records equal shares for AM/FM and DAB. These are platform shares for in-car radio listening, not shares of all in-car audio. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 9
For Q1 2025, the report gives a DAB share of 56%, an internet share of 7%, and an AM/FM share of 36%. The report’s narrative identifies the internet measure as internet-delivered radio; Figure 9 labels the series “Any internet.” The figures are best understood within Ofcom’s radio-platform definitions rather than as a classification of every connected audio service in a vehicle. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, in-car listening discussion and Figure 9
In car audio listening statistics: devices listeners use in vehicles
Edison Research’s U.S. Share of Ear findings describe the share of in-car listening time by device among people age 13+ who listen in-car. In the latest release described in its report, 58% of that time was through a traditional AM/FM radio receiver. Mobile devices accounted for 21%, satellite receivers for 16%, and CD players for 4%. These are listening-time shares, not the percentage of vehicles equipped with each device. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 30
The device categories show that radio receivers remained the largest listed channel in the overall in-car measure, while mobile devices were also a substantial part of listening time. Edison cautions that the driver may not be choosing the audio and that people in a car may listen to more than one thing at once. Accordingly, “device used” describes reported listening time in the study; it should not be read as a simple count of driver choices or exclusive listening sessions. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 30
In car audio listening statistics: differences by age group
Edison’s age breakdown indicates that device shares differ across U.S. in-car listener groups. Among listeners age 13–24, 48% of in-car listening time was through a traditional AM/FM receiver and 43% through mobile devices. For listeners age 25–54, the corresponding figures were 55% for traditional AM/FM and 26% for mobile devices; satellite accounted for 14%. Among listeners age 55+, traditional AM/FM accounted for 66% of listening time and satellite for 23%. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 30
| U.S. in-car listener age group | Traditional AM/FM receiver | Mobile device | Satellite receiver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13–24 | 48% | 43% | — |
| 25–54 | 55% | 26% | 14% |
| 55+ | 66% | — | 23% |
A dash indicates that the cited passage does not provide a value for that category and age group; it is not a zero. The observed AM/FM share rises across the reported age groups, while the reported mobile share is higher for ages 13–24 than for ages 25–54. The cited figures do not provide a mobile share for age 55+ or satellite share for ages 13–24, so this comparison covers only the reported measures. The period is the latest Share of Ear release described in the report, not a separately specified calendar year. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 30
in car audio listening: Car audio listening: broadcast, streaming, and on-demand formats
Edison classifies 76% of in-car audio listening time among U.S. people age 13+ as linear. Its definition includes AM/FM radio, radio streams, SiriusXM and other radio services. On-demand platforms account for 24%; examples in the report include paid streaming, podcasts and owned music such as CDs. The distinction is about listening format, so radio streams are included in the linear category rather than grouped with on-demand services. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 28
Podcasts represented 5% of all in-car audio listening time among U.S. people age 13+ in the report. This is a share of listening time across audio, not a measure of how many people listen to podcasts in a vehicle. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 34
Car model year is another reported distinction. Among people primarily driving or riding in model-year 2010-or-older cars, SiriusXM made up 5% of daily in-car listening time. For those primarily driving or riding in model-year 2019-or-newer cars, it made up 22%. These values describe the reported groups and do not establish why their listening shares differ. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 32
In car audio listening statistics: changes over time and measurement caveats
Ofcom’s location series puts in-car listening at 16% of UK radio listening in Q1 2005 and 26% in Q1 2025. For context within those same quarterly observations, listening at home was 69% in Q1 2005 and 55% in Q1 2025; at work or elsewhere it was 14% and 13%, respectively. Total UK radio listening was 1.06 billion weekly hours in Q1 2005 and 1.04 billion in Q1 2025. These location shares and total-hour figures are distinct measures. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 8
The platform series has a break in comparability: RAJAR fieldwork was suspended after Q1 2020 until Q3 2021, and methodology changes followed. A comparison spanning that gap should therefore be treated with caution. Figure 9 also uses specific platform definitions: DAB includes DAB+, while “Any internet” includes internet or smart-speaker radio listening. Source: Ofcom, Audio Listening in the UK 2025, Figure 9 notes
Edison’s time comparison concerns U.S. in-car listening time by device. In 2015, an in-car radio set accounted for 71% and phone listening for 9%; in the latest Share of Ear data described in the report, the radio set accounted for 58% and phone listening for 23%. Edison describes these as device shares of in-car listening. Its report notes that listeners may hear multiple things in the vehicle and that the driver may not be selecting the audio, which matters when interpreting device use as behavior. Source: Edison Research, The State of Audio in 50 Charts, p. 15
Taken together, these figures cover distinct populations and measures: UK radio listening by location and platform, and U.S. in-car audio listening by device, age, format and vehicle model year. The UK 2026 headline estimates should remain distinct from the detailed Q1 2025 and historical RAJAR series; the U.S. findings are from the latest Share of Ear release described in Edison’s report. Keeping those scopes attached to each statistic makes the comparisons useful without treating them as a single, directly comparable trend.