DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) is a digital radio standard developed in Europe in the 1980s and deployed at scale in the UK, Germany, Norway, and other countries as the intended successor to FM. In the UK, DAB has been so successful that it now accounts for more than half of all radio listening — and the UK is the world’s largest DAB market. Understanding DAB means understanding why digital radio took off in some countries and failed entirely in others.
What DAB does differently
FM radio transmits one station per frequency. DAB transmits a multiplex — a group of stations bundled together on a single frequency block. This means far more stations can broadcast in a given area without interference, and listeners receive them through a digital receiver with a station list rather than scanning a frequency dial. DAB+ (the updated standard, which the UK is gradually migrating to) adds better audio quality at lower bit rates and is the version now deployed in Australia, Switzerland, and newer European rollouts.
Why DAB succeeded in the UK
The UK committed to DAB early and heavily. National and local DAB multiplexes launched in 1995, and by the 2000s DAB sets were being sold in supermarkets at consumer price points. The BBC committed its major new services — Radio 4 Extra, Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, 6 Music, Asian Network — to DAB-only or DAB-first launches, giving listeners a reason to buy a DAB set. This commitment from the dominant public broadcaster was absent in many countries where DAB failed to gain traction.
DAB around the world
Norway became the first country to completely switch off its national FM network, in 2017, migrating entirely to DAB+. Denmark, Switzerland, and the UK are following at various speeds. Germany, despite being a DAB inventor, has had a slower rollout due to the federated structure of German broadcasting. The US, Canada, and much of Asia have opted for different digital standards (HD Radio in the US, IBOC) or simply stayed with FM and moved digital audiences to internet streaming. The result is a genuinely fragmented global digital radio landscape.