The BBC has said the figures cited don’t take into account the “many people who watch on screens, phones or tablets and on iPlayer catch up”.
The BBC has responded to reports that Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg has seen a decline in ratings since it replaced The Andrew Marr Show as BBC One’s Sunday morning politics programme last year.
It was reported in The Sunday Times and Mail Online that BARB figures showed a decline of 700,000 viewers between the average figures for Marr’s show (1.9 million) and the average of Kuenssberg’s in 2023 (1.2 million).
However, a spokesperson for BBC noted that the figures cited don’t appear to take into account catch-up viewership or viewers watching on alternate devices, such as tablets and laptops.
The spokesperson told RadioTimes.com: “These aren’t the right figures, as they don’t take into account the many people who watch on screens, phones or tablets and on iPlayer catch up, bringing the actual average to 1.5m, which broadly compares to Andrew Marr before the pandemic – it’s meaningless to use the extraordinary period of the pandemic as a comparison.
“We’re very pleased SWLK has become the weekend’s agenda-setting programme.”
Marr announced his departure from the BBC in November 2021, saying: “I am moving to Global to write and present political and cultural shows, and to write for newspapers.
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“I think British politics and public life are going to go through an even more turbulent decade, and as I’ve said, I am keen to get my own voice back.
“I’ve been doing the Andrew Marr Show every Sunday morning for 16 years now and that is probably more than enough time for anybody!”
Kuenssberg was previously political editor of BBC News from 2015 to 2022. The past few weeks on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg have seen guests including chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and US climate envoy John Kerry all being interviewed.
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg airs Sundays at 9am on BBC One. Check out more of our Current Affairs coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.