Nick Grimshaw’s BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show is losing listeners

The DJ has lost 600,000 listeners this year

Nick Grimshaw’s BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has lost 600,000 listeners so far in 2018, recording the slot’s second lowest audience total since records first began.

According to new figures released by Rajar – the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK – Grimmy attracted 5.1 million listeners a week to his show in the first three months of this year. It’s a dip from the 5.7 million listeners who tuned in every week during the last quarter of 2017.

The 11% fall in listeners is the second biggest drop since the DJ took over the primetime slot. His largest listener loss to date took place in the first quarter of 2013, with a 14% fall in overall audience.

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BBC bosses defended Grimshaw’s show in a statement following the release of the new figures. “Radio 1 has reinvented how the BBC reaches young people in the digital age with over 10 million listeners each week, over 10 million weekly views on YouTube and 10 million followers across social media,” said Ben Cooper, Controller BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra & Asian Network.

“Radio 1 remains the biggest and most relevant youth station in the UK, with over a third of all 15-24-year-olds listening each week.”

Over on BBC Radio 2, radio DJ Chris Evans – who presents the station’s breakfast show – has also lost listeners, with audience totals falling from 9.4 million to 9.1 million per week.

Meanwhile, BBC 6 Music is celebrating a record 2.5m weekly listeners per week. It remains the most popular digital-only station in the UK.

Elsewhere in the radio world, London-based station Capital now hosts the biggest commercial breakfast show in the city. Roman Kemp and Vick Hope’s Breakfast Show tops the rankings once again, with just over 1 million listeners per week.

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Heart has also become the first commercial radio brand with more adult listeners than BBC Radio 1, reaching a total of  9.5 million listeners across its various stations. It beats Radio 1’s total of 9.4 million by a whisker.

And over at Radio X, Chris Moyles – who presented BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show prior to Nick Grimshaw taking over the slot in 2012 – has record his best audience figures to date. 910, ooo listeners now tune into his show each week.

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