Radio listening via the internet is growing in the UK, with almost one third of the adult population claiming to have listened via the internet in October, according to research.

Commissioned by the industry’s audience research body Rajar, the Ipsos Mori survey conducted in October 2008 found that 31.7% of the UK’s adult population – or 16.1 million people – claimed to have listened to the radio via the internet.  The survey also found that 7.2 million said they had downloaded a Podcast during October.

This means that the number of people in the UK who have engaged in internet listening was up by 1.6 million people on the previous survey, conducted in May this year, which showed that an estimated 14.5 million claimed to have listened online.  In May 6 million said they had downloaded a Podcast during the month.

Rajar’s survey also found that 89% of internet radio listening takes place at home, while 21% listen at work and 6% listen elsewhere.  The number of people saying they listen to a podcast every week is also up, from May’s figure of 3.7 million to 4.1 million. However, Podcasts remain a fairly new experience for most users, according to the study, with 43% having started downloading them in the past year.

So it is great to see that there will be lots more growth for Podcasts.