BBC Radio 5 Live gets one million online listens for boxing match

BBC Radio 5 Live’s commentary of Anthony Joshua v Ruiz Jr attracted one million online listens during the match on Saturday night.

A million requests were made to hear 5 Live’s commentary team of Mike Costello, Steve Bunce and Richie Woodhall who were ringside in Saudi Arabia for the showdown, supported by a production team in Salford.

The BBC’s live commentary was available on BBC Sounds as well as via the BBC Sport website. And whilst it’s a milestone number, it’s not the biggest. Over a million requested Ben Stokes’ match-winning performance at Headingley during the third Ashes Test in August.

Head of Radio Sport Ben Gallop says: “Our approach was to use the live commentary as the centrepiece and then build out with a week of programming on iPlayer, podcasts from the peerless Mike Costello and Steve Bunce on BBC Sounds and written content on the BBC Sport website. Thanks to a targeted team effort in Saudi Arabia and Salford, the coverage delivered some stunning results.”

The radio commentary was complemented by written pieces on the BBC Sport webpage which built excitement in the days preceding the big fight, topped by a fight report on the night which pulled in 2.4 million users.