MediaCityUK-based Radio 5 live sports extra reached audiences of 2.2m according to the latest Rajar figures.
That’s up from 1.48m in the previous quarter and up from 1.67m year on year.
“We enjoyed a sensational summer of sport and the impact of that can be seen in the figures for Radio 5 live sports extra,” said James Purnell, Director of BBC Radio and Education.
“Our brilliant coverage of both the Cricket World Cup and the Ashes saw huge numbers of people listening live, helping push sports extra to its best ever figures. The country was gripped by Ben Stokes at Headingley and England’s World Cup win. I’m proud so many people followed the action on the BBC.”
The figures also showed an increase in podcast listening (up 40% over the year).
“Our goal is to keep live listening as strong as possible,” continued Purnell.
“We also want to grow BBC Sounds which allows our audiences to discover new podcasts and music mixes, expertly curated by our teams, as well as listen to all our stations and catch up on their favourite shows conveniently. BBC Sounds now has more than two and a half million weekly users, up around 50% since July.”
BBC Radio 5 live has seen its audience fall to 4.98m (5.24m last quarter and 5.03m last year). Its share has remained stable at 3.2%.
BBC local radio reached 7.43m listeners per week, from 7.59m last quarter and 7.84m last year.
