In Germany, depending on the region, around 300 radio shows are available on DAB+, of which over 100 are exclusive to the digital channel. To compare this with the rest of Europe, Digitalradio Büro Deutschland recently published a report outlining the DAB+ landscape across the continent.
According to Büro, DAB and/or DAB+ radio broadcasting is currently available in 29 European countries.
In 2017, Norway became the first country to phase out its national FM network and introduce DAB+. Across the country, including the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, 99.7% of Norwegians can receive digital radio signals, and DAB+ listening hours have surpassed FM listening hours since 2020.
Switzerland is following suit and is moving to phase out FM broadcasting at the end of 2026, while national broadcaster SRG SSR plans to phase out analogue broadcasting at the end of 2024.
In Denmark, 98% of the population can receive DAB+ signals, and current digital radio reception is around 28%. Once digital listening reaches 50%, the current Danish government plans to start phasing out FM.
Czech public broadcaster Český Róšlás currently reaches 96% of the population. Private broadcasters have also expanded their reach to larger cities and major transport links in recent months. This year a new tender was launched to allow private radio stations to expand their DAB+ presence to match ČR.
In Belgium, over 95% of the population can receive DAB+ radio programming in all three of the country's language communities.
The Netherlands also has a 95% coverage rate with public and private radio stations. In 2024, the number of DAB+ local radio stations is expected to increase to around 60 regions, including 22 small DAB multiplexes.
In Italy, where more than 85% of the population can receive DAB+ signals, the network of private broadcasters is the most developed, with public broadcaster RAI in the lead. In the northern region of South Tyrol, where DAB+ coverage is complete, the local public broadcaster Rundfunkanstalt Südtirol has shut down some of its FM transmitters.
Although officially still in a test phase, the multiplex, which broadcasts the state broadcaster Radio Television Serbia and a dozen programs from private radio stations, covers almost 80 percent of Serbia's population.
In the UK, digital penetration is expected to reach 73.7% in Q2 2024, with DAB+ being the most popular way of listening to radio with a listenership rate of 42.8%. There are more than 600 radio stations available on DAB and DAB+ nationwide, with this number growing in recent years with the opening of smaller local DAB+ multiplexes.
In Slovakia, 67% of the population listens to public and private radio programming via DAB+.
Two national multiplexes cover all French cities and motorways with DAB+ signals and are complemented by regional multiplexes spread across the country, meaning that more than 60% of the French population is within range of a DAB+ signal.
In Slovenia, the state-run multiplex and three regional platforms cover 91% of the country's highways.
Around 30% of Turkey's population, including major cities such as Ankara and Istanbul, is covered by the state broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu's eight-channel multiplex.
Austria will launch a second national platform with 14 programs in 2024. There will also be five regional bouquets – Tyrol, Vienna/Lower Austria, Upper Austria/Salzberg, Styria/Burgenthland and Vorarlberg – which will add a total of 17 new programs on DAB+. Vienna will have an additional local multiplex.
In Poland, there are 17 regional Polskie Radio platforms broadcasting in addition to 16 private and non-profit local platforms, including in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Szczecin and Wrocław.
Sweden's public broadcaster, Swedish Radio, operates a national multiplex that is broadcast mainly in larger cities, but the Beer Play Group has launched a national DAB+ package that includes 13 commercial stations. This joins the Bauer national multiplex that was launched in 2020. Around half of the Swedish population will now have access to DAB+.
2024 marks the first year that Spanish national radio will spread its DAB/DAB+ signal beyond Madrid and Barcelona, a move that follows private initiatives to bring local digital radio multiplexes online in major cities and resort areas such as the Balearic Islands.
Croatia has divided its national experimental network into ten regional groups, with the state broadcaster Hrvatski Radio broadcasting three channels and nine private stations broadcasting nationwide or in specific regions.
In Greece, public broadcaster ERA broadcasts a total of 13 programmes on DAB+ in the Athens Metropolitan, Thessaloniki and Patras regions, with nine commercial programme pilot projects currently running in the northern Athens Metropolitan area.
Local DAB+ services are broadcast in Baku in Azerbaijan, the Greater Sofia Region in Bulgaria, Chisinau in Moldova and Kyiv in Ukraine.
Digital radio is going strong even in Europe’s smallest country: in Malta, the DAB+ signal covers the entire island, with a total of 55 programmes broadcast across two national stations, one regional station and a test platform.
Liechtenstein's public broadcaster Radio L, which serves the Principality as a regional station for Eastern Switzerland, is in talks to set up a local multiplex in the country.
Monaco has four multiplexes broadcasting 37 private radio programs in French, Italian and English, and the Vatican operates its own four-program multiplex in Rome.
In the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, the public broadcaster Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation operates a three-channel multiplex. DAB+ has been available in the Channel Islands since 2021, and 22 stations are currently available digitally in Guernsey and Jersey.
