A summer of sport, politics and BBC Proms brings the UK together across BBC Radio & BBC Sounds

According to RAJARs for Q3 2024 (24/6 – 15/9), 32.6m people listened to the BBC’s unrivalled programming across key events this summer, from the Paris Olympics and Euro 2024 to the General Election and an ambitious season of BBC Proms.

In its 30th anniversary year, BBC Radio 5 Live reached its highest audience in a decade with its unique mix of the biggest news stories and sporting events, all brought to audiences with expert analysis and commentary, with 6m tuning in each week. BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra was listened to by 1.8m people during the same period. It was also a strong quarter for BBC Radio 4, the most listened to speech radio station in the UK, reaching 9.7m people with its refreshed schedule and its agenda setting news programme, Today, with 6m listeners (Mon-Sat).

With its new schedule and an ambitious season of BBC Proms, Radio 3 delighted over 2 million people and scored a record number of hours spent listening to the station: the highest in Radio 3’s history. Broadcasts of all 90 Proms, from the Berlin Philharmonic and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to the BBC’s own ensembles, thrilled listeners with eight weeks of world-class music making, live from the Royal Albert Hall and venues across the UK. Overall, Radio 3 also saw its highest ever figure of average hours per listener – and the station’s new schedule, introduced from April, has seen significant year-on-year gains for Saturday Morning with Tom Service, Jools Holland’s new Earlier…, Breakfast, Essential Classics and In Tune.

On BBC Sounds, there were over 622 million plays of all content across radio, podcasts and music mixes in this quarter (July – Sept 2024). This is up 14 million plays on the previous quarter and an increase of more than 3% from the same period last year, as digital listening continues to grow.

The busiest week of the quarter (w/c 8 July) saw BBC Sounds users peak at 4.9 million as listeners closely followed developments of the changing government after the UK General Election. In addition it was a huge week for sport, with the build up to the men’s UEFA Euro 2024 final where Spain beat England 2-1, and the Wimbledon tennis finals.

On BBC Sounds, listeners for BBC Proms were up 12% on last year. The Proms also struck a chord with younger audiences – making it into the top 10 most listened to on-demand programmes of the quarter for under 35s.

Charlotte Moore, BBC Chief Content Officer, says: “Congratulations to the 5 Live team, who on their 30th anniversary year have reached the biggest audience for the station in a decade. Listeners have loved tuning into 5 Live’s unrivalled news and sport offer, bringing them all the action as it has unfolded.

“Our stations remain hugely important for our listeners, and I’m delighted that for the big national moments, people come to the BBC. We’ve had a record-breaking BBC Proms season and a summer packed with news and sport, and our commentary and programming have been unrivalled in their ambition and scale. I’m so proud of our teams who have refreshed schedules and kept on innovating, bringing distinctive, high-quality content to audiences across our speech and music stations, and on BBC Sounds.”

Rajars – Q3 2024

The BBC had a share of 44.5% of all radio listening in the UK, with 32.6m listeners.

BBC Radio 1 had 8.6m listeners aged 10+ and the Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Greg James (Mon-Fri) had 4.6m 10+ listeners.

BBC Radio 2 is the UK’s biggest radio station with 13.3m listeners, and The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show is the UK’s biggest breakfast show with 6.3m listeners. Vernon Kay’s mid-morning radio show remains the nation’s favourite, increasing on the quarter to 6.8m listeners.

BBC Radio 3 had 2m listeners and its breakfast show had an audience of 866k.

BBC Radio 4 had 9.7m listeners with 6m tuning in for the Today programme (Mon-Sat).

BBC Radio 5 Live posted a reach of 6m listeners.

BBC Radio 1Xtra had 804k listeners, BBC Radio 4 Extra had 1.5m, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra had 1.8k, and BBC Asian Network had 609k.

BBC Radio 6 Music reached 2.7m listeners and continues to be the biggest digital only music radio station in the UK.

The BBC World Service was listened to by 1.1m people, and BBC Nations radio and Local BBC Radio in England had a combined audience of 6.8m.

The figures also reveal how the overall podcast listening is at an all-time high – 12.6m (22% of the UK adult population), as is the overall listening of live radio, with 50.9m people tuning in for the BBC’s radio stations as well as commercial radio.

BBC Sounds – Q3 2024

In Q3 2024 there were 10.8 million signed-in BBC Sounds accounts with a weekly average of 4.7 million users across the mobile app, website, TV and voice activated devices. Data shows there was a total of 226 million plays of on-demand radio and podcast content.

Interest in news was understandably high this quarter and Newscast and Americast were the top two podcasts on BBC Sounds. The curated Latest News Playlist has also performed well with younger listeners, with Latest Headlines from BBC News the seventh most listened to on-demand programme for listeners under 35, also driven by smart speaker requests.

Once again, Radio 4 content dominated the podcast chart on BBC Sounds, demonstrating the quality of titles from the network. Star-studded new audio drama Central Intelligence boosted listeners of the Limelight drama podcast, making it the third-most popular podcast of the quarter, followed by You’re Dead to Me and investigative Radio 4 podcast strand Intrigue, which was recently honoured with prestigious Prix Italia and Prix Europa awards for To Catch a Scorpion.

Last month BBC podcasts landed 29 awards at the British Podcast Awards – 11 of them gold – spanning a range of genres from Current Affairs to True Crime and everything in between.

In Q3 on BBC Sounds:

• Newscast and Americast were the top two most listened to podcasts on BBC Sounds, with Newscast also taking the top spot for listeners under 35, followed by You’re Dead to Me and Miss Me?
• Radio 4’s Limelight drama strand was the third most listened to podcast with series including Central Intelligence featuring Kim Cattrall, and 11 Minutes Dead.
• Radio 4’s The Archers remains the most listened to on-demand radio programme for all adults again this quarter (including for under 35s), followed by Whodunnits on Radio 4 Extra and the ever-popular Desert Island Discs.
• Radio 4 comedy performed well with Mark Steel’s in Town, The Unbelievable Truth and The News Quiz all appearing in the top 10 on-demand radio programmes.
• Radio 1 programming continues to be a hit with younger listeners and had the highest percentage of listeners aged under 35. Shows such as Radio 1 10’s and Radio 1 00’s proved the most popular, followed by Radio 1’s Giant Detention which saw Greg James and fellow presenter ‘class-mates’ trapped in detention to playfully mark the return of the academic year.
• BBC Proms also ranked among the top 10 on-demand programmes for the under 35 age group, driven by special concerts from Florence + the Machine and Sam Smith. Overall there was a 12% yearly increase for Proms listeners on BBC Sounds.
• Music mixes provided relaxation as well as motivation. Listeners consistently turned to BBC Sounds to help them drift off as The Sleeping Forecast continued to be the most listened to music mix, followed by the Mindful Mix. Fans of nostalgia tuned in to Sounds of the 90s with Fearne Cotton which was the third most popular, followed by running playlist Pace Setter with highlights including motivational tunes curated by McFly drummer Harry Judd.
• At the end of August, Oasis-mania swept across the UK as the band announced their reunion tour, and The Rise and Fall of… from 6 Music made an appearance in the Top 10 on-demand podcasts, as Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq delved into the story behind the band.
• There was a total of 213 million downloads for BBC podcasts around the world this quarter, up by 4 million from Q2. Given the BBC’s world class reputation for news, it’s no surprise that Global News Podcast from BBC World Service was the most popular title on third party platforms, followed by Newscast and The Documentary Podcast. Other popular programmes in the top ten included 6 Minute English, In Our Time and Desert Island Discs.

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