Norway Completes its Transition to Digital Radio

In a global first, last week Norway completed its transition to digital radio, becoming the first country in the world to shut down national broadcasts on its FM network.

Bauer is investing significantly in digital broadcasting, and as Europe’s leading commercial broadcaster it’s exciting to see such strong digital radio progress, with 91% of listening in Norway now digital.

We have taken advantage of the new distribution enabled by the switchover, by expanding our national services from four to eight channels. New launches Norske Pop, Topp 40 and Vinyl have led to an increase in share of listening from 9.7% to 13.1% YOY. Listeners have clearly responded to the exciting choice of stations unleashed onto the Norwegian market and we launch Radio 1, another new service, in January 2018.

Elsewhere in Europe, Switzerland has confirmed a switch over between 2020- 2024. And in the UK, underpinned by our creativity, innovation and a strong portfolio of digital commercial radio stations Bauer continues with its leading position in digital radio, with 60% of listening via a digital device, compared to the industry average of 50%.