The BBC’s Brexitcast podcast was watched by more than 1m viewers on its TV debut last night, the broadcaster has claimed.
Brexitcast, which describes itself as a hub for “non-boring Brexit chat”, has taken the half-hour 11.35pm BBC One on Thursdays. It also airs on the BBC News Channel at 9.30pm.
The programme is pre-recorded earlier in the day by hosts BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, Europe editor Katya Adler and political correspondents Chris Mason and Adam Fleming.
Brexitcast’s average viewership on BBC One last night stood at 900,000, with an extra 200,000 viewers from the BBC News slot.
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Its first-week BBC One figures beat those of the Andrew Neil Show which launched last Wednesday at 7pm with an average audience of 800,000.
Brexitcast editor Dino Sofos said: “This is a brilliant start for the first ever Brexitcast on TV – the fact that over a million Brexitcasters tuned in, mostly late at night, to watch, shows the appetite and interest in Brexit, reported in a new, different format.
“We hope to continue building on that for audiences, to make sense of this complex and unpredictable story.”
BBC live political programmes editor Rob Burley described the numbers as “very healthy” in a tweet.
The 11.35pm BBC One slot was formerly occupied by This Week, a political chat show hosted by Neil for 16 years until it came to an end in July.
When the BBC announced it was bringing Brexitcast to TV sets, it promised insight into Brexit, Westminster and Brussels as well as the odd bit of coverage for political events outside of Brexit.
The weekly show is broadcast from the BBC’s Westminster studio.
Picture: BBC News
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