U.K. Radio: BBC Radio1 Loses 1M Listeners

BBC Radio 1 set out to reach a more ‘youthful’ audience and that’s exactly what they did. Unfortunately, it's cost them nearly one million listeners, according to The Independent.

According to official Rajar listening figures, the station averaged 9.7 million listeners a week during the first three months 2015, its lowest audience since the end of 2003. Year on year, the station has lost 830,000 listeners from its 10.5 million weekly average in 2014.

Nick Grimshaw’s breakfast show has slumped to his lowest listening figures yet, with just 5.5 million tuning in to his antics every week.

The figures mark a record low for Grimshaw’s breakfast show.

After criticism that the station was not youthful enough, Grimshaw was hired to replace Chris Moyles in 2012 in an attempt to attract younger listeners.

According to the new figures, listeners aged over 30 accounted for around 90 per cent of the dip in figures, the most common age of a Radio 1 listener being 21.

Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper congratulated the host, saying: “Grimmy is doing what I've asked of him by keeping his young audience happy and scaring off the over-30's."