In the final quarter of 2025, UK’s Talk radio station achieved remarkable audience growth, surpassing other speech stations in average listening hours per listener. According to the latest quarterly RAJAR figures, Talk, previously known as Talkradio, recorded a total of seven million listening hours, marking a year-on-year increase of 35% and a quarter-on-quarter jump of 39%.
Talk’s performance included a significant rise in its weekly reach, which climbed 12% to reach 565,000 listeners. This growth was primarily driven by the station’s engaging news coverage, including an undercover documentary on migrants and discussions surrounding high-profile topics such as US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace deal and the Labour government’s first Budget. The breakfast show from 6am to 10am also saw substantial growth, with a 23% increase year-on-year and a 19% rise quarter-on-quarter, resulting in a total of 336,000 weekly listeners.
GB News Maintains Lead Over Talk
Despite Talk’s impressive growth, GB News continues to maintain a lead of over 100,000 weekly listeners, recording the highest year-on-year growth in weekly reach among speech stations. The channel increased its audience by 44%, rising from 468,000 in Q4 2024 to 672,000 in the recent quarter. GB News has also consistently outperformed Times Radio, having surpassed it in previous quarters.
Nevertheless, GB News reported the lowest listenership for its breakfast show, attracting only 278,000 weekly listeners. In contrast, BBC Radio 2 remains the most listened-to station overall, with a weekly reach of 12.7 million and achieving a four-year record of average listening hours at 11 hours per listener, following a quarterly growth of 6%.
Shifts in Listening Trends Across Stations
While some stations experienced growth, others faced declines. The BBC World Service saw the most significant drop in weekly reach, decreasing by 15% to one million listeners. Times Radio also suffered a 10% decline, reaching 542,000 listeners, while BBC Radio 4’s Today programme fell 5% to 5.5 million listeners.
LBC News recorded the largest month-on-month decline, falling 9% in weekly listeners to 408,000 and experiencing a 26% drop in listening hours. Despite this, the overall LBC brand achieved a record reach of 3.4 million listeners weekly, marking a 2% increase year on year and month on month.
While audience dynamics continue to shift, the latest RAJAR figures illustrate the competitive landscape of UK radio, showcasing the varying successes of different stations as they navigate listener preferences.
