The latest quarterly RAJAR listening figures reveal notable audience growth for both Talk and GB News in the final quarter of 2025. Talk, the speech radio station owned by News UK, reported the highest average listening hours per listener among speech stations, alongside a substantial year-on-year increase in total listening hours.
Audience Metrics and Growth Rates
According to the data, Talk recorded a remarkable 35% increase in total listening hours compared to the previous year, reaching seven million hours. The station also saw a 39% rise in listening hours quarter-on-quarter. Its weekly reach grew by 12%, now standing at 565,000 listeners. RAJAR defines weekly reach as the number of UK adults listening to a station for at least five minutes during an average week.
The growth was particularly evident during Talk’s breakfast show, which achieved a 23% rise year-on-year and a 19% increase quarter-on-quarter, attracting 336,000 weekly listeners. Talk attributed its success to impactful news coverage, including an undercover migrant documentary and discussions on significant topics such as Donald Trump‘s Gaza peace deal and the Labour government’s first budget. Additionally, the station reported an impressive 383 million views on YouTube during the quarter.
GB News Maintains Lead
Despite Talk’s achievements, GB News continues to lead in audience numbers, surpassing Talk by more than 100,000 weekly listeners. GB News experienced the highest year-on-year growth in weekly reach among all stations, increasing by 44% from 468,000 in Q4 2024 to 672,000 in the latest figures. This growth has allowed GB News to maintain its position ahead of Times Radio, which it overtook in Q3 2025.
However, GB News faced challenges in the breakfast show segment, where its weekly reach stood at 278,000 listeners, the lowest among competing stations. In contrast, BBC Radio 2 remains the most listened-to station in the UK, with a weekly reach of 12.7 million and a four-year high of 11 hours on average per listener, following a 6% growth in this metric.
In terms of declines, the BBC World Service experienced the largest year-on-year drop in weekly reach, down 15% to one million listeners. Other stations also reported declines, including Times Radio, which decreased by 10% to 542,000, and BBC Radio 2, which fell by 7%.
Additionally, LBC News saw the most significant month-on-month decline in both weekly listeners, down 9% to 408,000, and listening hours, which dropped 26% to 1.2 million. Despite this, the LBC brand achieved a record reach of 3.4 million weekly listeners, reflecting a 2% increase both year-on-year and month-on-month.
The BBC Radio 4 breakfast news programme, Today, saw a 5% decline in weekly reach year-on-year, now at 5.5 million listeners, while BBC Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show grew by 5% to 1.5 million weekly listeners.
As radio audiences continue to evolve, these figures highlight the competitive landscape of UK broadcasting, with significant shifts in listener preferences and engagement.
