My theory is that although online listenership is up, it’s on the premise that it’s a (good) alternative for listeners who already listen on terrestrial - be it FM, DAB or AM. Thus most online only stations have low listenership. The son of Atlantic 252 will I think stand or fall on a) whether it’s good b) what the coverage is like, depending on choice of SSDAB. A question might also be is it a throwback station, with any original folks on it (or old recordings) or a today’s version, playing today’s music with or without some original folks.
@Mike: I once attended a talk on the communication App ‘Slack’ believe it or not presented by an Alice. Needless to say, in a Q&A slot I managed to say - ‘I have a question for Slack Alice’. Pretty sure no one got it. Luckily probably.