Radio 1 has recorded its second lowest listening figures ever, but the station’s boss Ben Cooper has been quick to point out other gains.
A new report published by official industry body RAJAR reveals that 9.2m people listen to Radio 1 a week. This is still pretty impressive but, year on year, is a decrease of 380,000.
Departing breakfast show host Nick Grimshaw has managed to buck the trend though, with his weekly listener count increasing to 5.29m a week, from 5.1m last quarter.
When it comes to online platforms, Radio 1 is also continuing to increase its presence.
Its YouTube views are now at an impressive 16 million per week and in response to the numbers, Ben - the controller for Radio 1 and its sister stations 1Xtra & Asian Network Controller - highlighted the online growth.
“At a time of huge change for Radio 1, I’m delighted to see us bringing in 10 million weekly listeners, 10 million social followers, and a record 16 million weekly viewers of our YouTube content,” he said.
Digital channels 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network and 6 Music have also seen listener increases. Elsewhere, ratings for Chris Evans’ Radio 2 breakfast show have continued to decrease slightly (going down by 100,000 in three months).
Radio 4’s Today’s audience has fallen by 839,000 in one year and the BBC are attributing the decrease to the amount of extra listeners who tuned in to hear updates on “significant news events such the General Election, terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire” last year.
Earlier this year, Nick Grimshaw debated the significance of RAJAR’s figures. Pointing out that the data collection relies on chosen individuals keeping “listening diaries”, he told the Sunday Times Magazine: “The idea of a teenager even having a radio is funny.
“We get a million views a day on YouTube - the technology killing the radio is also evolving it,” he added.