Chris Evans' Virgin Radio listening figures hit a million as Zoe Ball keeps Radio 2 Breakfast Show audience

Chris Evans 'is loving every minute' of his new role
PA Wire/PA Images
Ella Wills16 May 2019

More than one million listeners a week are tuning in to Chris Evans new breakfast show on Virgin Radio, figures show.

The host's new slot attracted a weekly audience of 1.05 million in the first three months of 2019.

He has also helped the digital radio station almost treble its audience.

Virgin Radio was averaging around 480,000 listeners per week before he joined. It now posts a weekly reach of 1.3 million.

It comes as ratings revealed Zoe Ball has maintained Evans' old audience at just over 9 million listeners a week on BBC Radio 2's Breakfast Show.

Zoe Ball has kept the audience at BBC Radio 2's Breakfast Show
PA

The presenter took over from Evans in January, making her the first female breakfast show host in the station's history.

From January to March, Ball had an average weekly audience of 9.05 million - almost unchanged from the 9.07 million for Evans's final three months.

Ball said she was "supersized giddy" to have so many listeners.

Evans left his job on primetime Radio 2 show after nine years to present a new breakfast programme on rival network Virgin.

The latest figures showed he attracted an average weekly audience of just over one million during his first three months on air across the three stations Virgin Radio, Virgin Anthems and Virgin Chilled.

Chris Evans said: "Last year, I said I wanted a new mountain to climb. And the view from the top of the News Tower isn't half bad.

"But really this is just base camp. I'm back in my spiritual home and loving every minute of it."

Radio 2 underwent a number of line-up changes at the start of the year, including Sara Cox taking over the drive-time slot.

The station's overall average weekly audience for January to March was 15.4 million, according to the audience research body Rajar.

This is up slightly on 14.9 million in October to December 2018 and unchanged on the same period a year ago.

BBC director of radio and education James Purnell praised the new breakfast line-up on Radio 2 and also 6 Music, where Lauren Laverne took over from Shaun Keaveny in January.

He said: "It's been an incredible team effort with our talented presenters and their production teams hitting the ground running and bringing joy to millions of listeners in the morning.

"It shows yet again the importance of BBC radio in the daily lives of the 34 million people who tune in each week.

"This quarter we've also seen the highest proportion of people listening to radio on digital platforms, including online and on apps, as well as increased numbers in the UK listening to podcasts each week, and I'm delighted listeners are discovering our much-loved content however it suits them."

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