All posts tagged: audience

RAJARs Q2 2026: GB News radio audience up 34% as BBC dips

RAJARs Q2 2026: GB News radio audience up 34% as BBC dips

Published by Sam Flores

GB News Radio logo and presenter Michelle Dewberry. Picture: GB News GB News Radio recorded the strongest growth year on year among news and current affairs stations in the latest quarterly RAJAR listening figures. The station saw its weekly reach increase by more than a third (34%) to 731,000 listeners, while its total listening hours also recorded the biggest year-on-year increase, rising 78% to 5.4 million. RAJAR defines weekly reach as the number of UK adults who listen to a station for at least five minutes during an average week. Compared to last quarter, GB News Radio grew its listeners by 8% and its listening hours by 24%. The station also saw a boost in its breakfast programme listening figures, with the show’s weekly reach up by 70% year on year and 44% quarter on quarter to 325,000 – overtaking Talk in the slot. Its average hours per listener also increased the most compared to last quarter, up 16% to 7.4 hours. News UK’s Talk (previously Talkradio) recorded the second-biggest increase in listeners compared to last year, …

Audience member faints on opening night of London play during graphic scene

Audience member faints on opening night of London play during graphic scene

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter The opening night performance of Cleansed at London’s Almeida Theatre saw Sarah Kane’s provocative play live up to its reputation – with one audience member fainting during a graphic scene. First staged in 1998, Cleansed is one of five plays by the late playwright Kane, who died by suicide in 1999 at the age of 28. It is noteworthy for its visceral violence, prolonged nudity, and dark themes. Previous productions of the play have drawn similar responses from some theatregoers, with the 2016 version at the National Theatre making headlines, thanks to a spate of faintings and walkouts among the crowd. During Wednesday’s (29 July) press night performance of the play, directed for the Almeida by Rebecca Frecknall, an audience member was seen receiving assistance from staff before being helped from the auditorium. Stuart Thompson in ‘Cleansed’ at the Almeida (Marc …

England’s quarter-final win scores biggest UK audience of 2026 World Cup so far

England’s quarter-final win scores biggest UK audience of 2026 World Cup so far

Published by Daniella Wilson

England’s narrow win over Norway in the World Cup quarter-final was the most-watched match of the tournament so far in the UK – with an average of 12.7m viewers tuning in to the crucial match last night. According to overnight Barb figures, the peak audience for the match on ITV1 was 16.8m, eclipsing the 15m peak for the Three Lions’s opening group game against Croatia last month. However, that total was still a fair bit lower than previous England quarter-finals at the tournament. In 2022, a peak of 21.3m watched the side lose to France, while four years earlier the figure for the win against Sweden stood at 20m. Want to see this content? This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose ‘Accept and continue’ to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes. Accept and continue England’s previous match at this edition of the event – the hard-fought win against co-hosts Mexico …

BBC reports record-breaking global audience figures of half a billion

BBC reports record-breaking global audience figures of half a billion

Published by Daniella Wilson

The BBC has reported record-breaking global audience figures, with its services now reaching more than half a billion people weekly. Across BBC News, the BBC World Service and content distributed by BBC Studios, the corporation’s international audience increased by 11 per cent year on year to 502 million people. BBC News reached 467 million people each week, an increase of nearly 50 million compared to the previous year (up 12 per cent year on year), while the BBC World Service attracted a weekly audience of 355 million people weekly – marking a 14% year on year increase and accounting for more than 70% of the BBC’s international audience reach. The BBC said the growth was largely driven by the corporation’s digital transformation, combined with a run of significant news stories. The corporation added that the BBC World Service has seen its digital audience increase by over 40% during the same period. The BBC also said it remains the most trusted international news provider globally, ranking first for reliability and independence. BBC News’ Clive Myrie. BBC Photo …

Noah Kahan begs fans to ‘go to the bathroom’ after audience defecation incident: ‘Please dear God’

Noah Kahan begs fans to ‘go to the bathroom’ after audience defecation incident: ‘Please dear God’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Popular singer-songwriter Noah Kahan has issued a plea to fans after an unsavory incident at a recent concert. Amid recent debates about the fringe practice of concertgoers wearing adult nappies – in a bid to avoid losing their spot at the front of the crowd – a Kahan gig this week saw one audience member forego the measure entirely. A video that went viral on TikTok showed the obscene aftermath after a fan seemingly defecated on the floor near the front of his recent performance in Philadelphia. Kahan, who is best known for his hit single “Stick Season”, addressed the incident on X/Twitter on Saturday (28 June). Noah Kahan performs at Bridgestone Arena on 24 May 2024 (Getty Images) “If you have to poop at a show please dear god just go to the bathroom lmao,” he wrote. “I’ve pooped my pants as …

YouTube says the secret to success is not their algorithm, it’s your audience

YouTube says the secret to success is not their algorithm, it’s your audience

Published by skeptic

Much of the talk at VidCon 2026 focused on how long-form horizontal content is at the forefront of rewiring the traditional Hollywood model. On a panel about convergence, Pocketwatch CEO Chris H. Williams declared, “If it works on YouTube, it’ll work anywhere,” pointing to The Besties’ crossover success on Hulu and, soon, Amazon Fire TV Stick. A recurring topic across panels was how streamers like Hulu, Amazon, and Tubi are recruiting creators, acquiring their YouTube libraries, or funding original content. But what does it take to make a video go viral on YouTube in 2026? That was the question Vidcon attendees had in mind as they sat down for the panel titled Decoding the Algorithm: What Your Audience Actually Wants on YouTube. Presented by YouTube, this three-person panel featured YouTube Creator Liaison and Head of Editorial Rene Ritchie, YouTuber Katarina Mogus, and YouTube Senior Director of Growth and Discovery Todd Beaupré. SEE ALSO: VidCon 2026: Live updates from the internet’s biggest weekend However, rather than offering a guideline on how to make the algorithm work …

B2B tech title The Stack boosts newsletter audience with acquisition

B2B tech title The Stack boosts newsletter audience with acquisition

Published by Sam Flores

The Stack announces its acquisition of Tom Krzit’s Runtime. Picture: The Stack UK-based B2B publisher The Stack has almost tripled its newsletter audience after buying US tech title Runtime. The acquisition of Tom Krazit’s Runtime increases The Stack’s reach while allowing founder Ed Targett to focus on the business’s commercial arm and expansion. The deal was funded with cash and shares in the combined business. Targett, former editor of Tech Monitor (owned by Press Gazette parent Globaldata), and seasoned technology marketer Nishal Ratanji launched The Stack in 2020. “We spun it up with a grand total of £300 of launch capital from my overdraft,” Targett told Press Gazette. “We hired a guy in Nigeria who I found on Twitter to do us a website for £100, and we basically just started writing – no newsletter, just a really bare bones site, and tried to hope that the quality of what I was trying to write would bring in people.” The Stack operates as a website and newsletter, covering enterprise technology. Before the acquisition, The Stack’s …

Stephen Mangan shares shocking instance of audience member’s terrible theatre etiquette

Stephen Mangan shares shocking instance of audience member’s terrible theatre etiquette

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Stephen Mangan has questioned whether all audience members understand that “they’re in the same room” at the theatre, as he recalled one particularly shocking instance of poor etiquette. The British actor is returning to the West End for The Truth, Florian Zeller’s comedy about two unfaithful couples, in which he stars opposite Janie Dee, Sarah Hadland and Ardal O’Hanlon. Speaking not long after Rosamund Pike called out an audience member during her own West End play, Inter Alia, for texting, Mangan was asked whether behaviour in theatres had grown worse. “You sometimes feel as if the audience don’t appreciate that they’re in the same room,” he told The Times. “If they pull out a phone and start texting, we’re right there. We can see it. If they lean over and whisper something to their friend, we can hear it.” “ Stephen …

UK online audience ranking 2026: Top 25 website owners

UK online audience ranking 2026: Top 25 website owners

Published by Sam Flores

Publishers are losing ground against tech platforms in the UK as Meta and Alphabet increase their dominance of online media, a new Press Gazette ranking of UK online audience for April 2026 reveals. Our ranking of the biggest website owners in the UK by audience, based on Ipsos iris data, shows Meta and Alphabet significantly growing their already dominant positions. UK internet users spent 122 billion minutes with Alphabet-owned websites (including Google and Youtube) in April 2026, up 14% year on year. That is more than 80 minutes per day, per person on average. Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp) is the second biggest website owner in the UK with 117 billion online minutes in April (up 10%). The two US giants are reckoned to reach 99% (Alphabet) and 97% (Meta) of the UK online population. Tiktok owner Bytedance is the fastest-growing website publisher in the UK with time spent on its platform growing 30% year on year in April to 33 billion minutes. These three companies are some way ahead of the next …

Question Time Audience Member Savages 'Sexist' Reform By-Election Candidate

Question Time Audience Member Savages 'Sexist' Reform By-Election Candidate

Published by Sam Flores

Robert Kenyon was confronted by the woman on Question Time. A BBC Question Time audience member savaged the Reform UK candidate in a crunch by-election over his “sexist” views. Robert Kenyon has been forced to defend social media posts he made before being chosen to stand for the party in Makerfield, Greater Manchester. The plumber wrote that women can’t “ref, drive or give directions” on an online rugby fan forum in the 2010s. He said women presenting rugby games on TV “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box”, adding: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.” On the same forum, he also said that women have abortions get them for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want”. In a now-deleted social media post, he also interacted with a message sent on X to former Countdown host Carol Vorderman, which said: “Happy birthday Carol, my God I would love to smell and lick your arsehole.” Kenyon replied: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking,” along with a thumbs up and a …