Audience: Year History

audience: At the same time, the commercial talk radio station LBC achieved its highest audience in its 46-year history, reaching 2.2 million listeners a week as they tuned in to more opinionated programming from the likes of Nick Ferrari, James O'Brien and Nigel Farage, according to The Guardian. The official Rajar figures show the challenges the BBC is up against at a time when commercial rivals are paying big money to lure away its stars. Figures for the final three months of 2018 show the BBC's flagship news and current affairs station reached 10.5 million Britons a week, down 750,000 on the same period last year, while BBC 5 Live lost 10% of its audience in the last 12 months and is now listened to by fewer than 5 million people a week. The UK's three major commercial radio networks are investing heavily in new, digital-only outlets in the belief that the proliferation of digital radios and smart speakers such as Amazon's Echowill encourage people to try new stations. The BBC's director of radio, James Purnell, has previously said he was not concerned with such metrics and was instead focusing on developing the audience for the much-criticised BBC Sounds app and ensuring its output was relevant to the next generation through increased investment in podcasting and online audio. As a result, the BBC's share of total radio listening has slipped to 50.9%, with the long-term decline suggesting the corporation will be overtaken by the commercial sector at some point in the next year. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.