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BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw hits lowest ever ratings

Grimshaw took over from Chris Moyles in 2012

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Thursday 26 October 2017 03:11 EDT
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Radio 1 breakfast host Nick Grimshaw
Radio 1 breakfast host Nick Grimshaw (Getty)

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Nick Grimshaw's BBC Radio 1 breakfast show has suffered its biggest drop in ratings since RAJAR began collecting data in 1992.

Grimshaw, who has hosted the show for the past five years, brought in 5.3 million listeners over the age of 10 per week in the three months before September 2017.

When he took over from Chris Moyles in 2012, the show was averaging around 7 million listeners. This latest figure is thought to be the programme's lowest audience figure since the breakfast show debuted in 1967.

However a Radio 1 source told the BBC that the show is "still relevant as ever".

"It is still the number breakfast show for young people. But they don't consume as much traditional radio as they used to," the source said. "Grimmy is the number one breakfast show in the UK for young audiences and that's all they really care about."

Meanwhile Radio 1's overall ratings have seen a slight increase, with ratings up from 9.58 million to 9.6 million.

Ben Cooper, controller for BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network, said that the station is also enjoying record numbers for online ratings.

"As we celebrate our amazing 50th anniversary, Radio 1 continues to be the most relevant youth brand in the UK today, with 10.55m weekly listeners (aged 10+), a record 5 million subscribers on YouTube, and 9.45 million subscibers on social media."

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