BBC Radio 1 breakfast show listening figures rise under new host Greg James
The Radio 1 breakfast host has added over 300,000 listeners since taking over from Nick Grimshaw in August 2018
Greg James has added 300,000 listeners to the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show since taking over from previous presenter Nick Grimshaw.
The DJ and presenter has seen Radio 1 breakfast show listening figures rise since taking over from Grimshaw in August 2018.
5.59 million listeners per week tuned in to the Radio 1 breakfast show between 17th September and 16th December 2018 – up more than 300,000 listeners on the previous quarter’s 5.28 million listeners per week.
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The figures provided by ratings body Rajar cover the transition between the two hosts and are the first official indicator of how James, who took over from Grimshaw on 20th August last year, has fared.
Grimshaw left the breakfast show on 9th August, but continues to present on Radio 1 between 4pm and 7pm.
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“It’s brilliant that our new and fresh Radio 1 Breakfast Show is doing so well," said director of BBC Radio and Music Bob Shennan. "Greg James is a superb DJ and we know his listeners love the show."
According to the figures, BBC radio’s overall share was slightly down across all the networks. It reached 33.9 million weekly listeners across all services, down from 34.3 million over the previous three months.
BBC Radio 1 posted a reach of 10.19 million listeners overall, down from 10.56 million in the previous three months and 10.72 million overall last year.
BBC Radio 2’s weekly audience was 14.89m down from 14.64m the previous three months and 9.43m last year.
However the last days of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show attracted a high audience, with Evans topping 9.06m listeners per week compared to 8.82m in the previous quarter.
Shennan said the slight decline in overall listening figures was due to the busy Christmas period.
"We can see that a busy few months for listeners in the run up to Christmas has impacted on all radio listening in the UK, but despite that our radio breakfast shows demonstrate what an important role live radio still plays in people’s daily lives with millions waking up to BBC Radio, whether it’s for brilliant music, great guests or comprehensive news coverage," he said.
“Nearly 9 in 10 people continue to listen to radio in the UK but as we know listening habits are changing. We’ve made great strides in reinventing our overall audio offer so that audiences now and in the future can discover the very best of the BBC, whenever they want to. This is paying off and increasing numbers of people are listening to music, radio and podcasts on BBC Sounds with recent record figures.”
