It is a very special year for everyone at 5 Live as we approach our 30th birthday. What a year it promises to be – a general election in the UK, the US election and a huge year of sport with the Men’s Football Euros in Germany, the Olympic Games in Paris and of course our unmissable Premier League and Champions League coverage.5 Live is thriving with an engaged and varied audience who know their voices are shared, valued and represented across news, current affairs and sport. We provide unrivalled coverage and commentary from the heart of the action at the biggest sporting events including live coverage on 5 Sports Extra, on top of the station’s unique obligation to cover over 20 different sports from Cricket and Rugby League to Women’s Super League and NFL.We are always looking at how to better serve our audiences across the UK and giving them what they want, when they want it and on whatever platform they want to use. Today, we have announced our proposals for 5 Sports Extra on how we plan to add even more value to what licence fee payers get from us. We want to provide audiences with more content about the sports they love, from the station they trust.It's fair to say that 5 Live is performing with great momentum, achieving 14.1% year-on-year growth in our reach at the end of 2023 and cementing our position as a digital pioneer with more digital listeners than any other BBC station. We’ve also led the way with podcast commissions, with our sports podcasts receiving millions of downloads, driven by content such as Football Daily, Test Match Special, Chequered Flag and Rugby Union Weekly to name just a few.This makes our proposed changes to 5 Sports Extra a very easy decision. When we’re not broadcasting live sports coverage, we currently play out a three-minute marketing loop every hour. Our intention is to fill this empty schedule with the wealth of sports podcasts we know audiences love. Listeners will be able to discover new content and explore the brilliant depth and breadth our sports podcast line up has to offer, including first class sport content from the BBC teams in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.The purpose of 5 Sports Extra won’t change. We will still lead the way with unparalleled live sports coverage and expert commentary. By giving audiences greater access and exposure to our world class podcasts, we’re rising to the challenge of shifting demands, as listeners have more choice then ever from the wider audio and podcast landscape. At a time when the costs of producing quality content are rising, the proposal gives good value with great impact for listeners without increasing our spend, by repurposing existing content.This is also an opportunity to give a bigger platform to some of our less well-known podcasts as well as programmes that cater to particular regions like the recent ‘Everton: Nothing Will Be The Same’ podcast created in Liverpool. The stories from underserved areas and sports will have a main station home allowing them to be discovered by a bigger audience. 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra’s broad and in-depth sports offer is the key to what makes us the distinctive voice of the UK and this proposed change will only make this stronger, making sure we connect with wider and even more varied audiences across the UK.
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