Largest Digital Audience Ever Recorded at BBC Proms
BBC Proms 2025 Shatters Attendance Records
The BBC Proms 2025, the world's largest classical music festival, has concluded with a resounding success, attracting a massive audience both in-person and online.
The festival, which ran from July 17 to September 13, drew over 6,500 attendees at Bristol Beacon and over 71,000 Promming tickets were sold for the concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall. In total, nearly 300,000 people attended the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and venues across the UK.
Sam Jackson, controller of Radio 3 and BBC Proms, praised the audience response, stating that it was "extraordinary". This sentiment was echoed by James Ainscough OBE, chief executive of the Royal Albert Hall.
The festival's digital audience also saw a significant increase, with the BBC Proms increasing its digital audience by almost a third since 2024. Over six million streams have been recorded across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds for the BBC Proms 2025, with over one million streams on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds recorded for the Last Night Of The Proms alone.
The festival consisted of 86 concerts, with 72 of them held at the Royal Albert Hall. Highlights included performances by international soloists such as St Vincent, Angélique Kidjo, and Jade, who performed alongside the Royal Northern Sinfonia at one of the BBC Proms in the North-East of England.
The international concerts featured conductors such as Vasily Petrenko with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Andris Nelsons conducting the Gewandhausorchester, Franz Welser-Möst leading the Vienna Philharmonic, and Daniel Barenboim conducting the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich with pianist Rudolf Buchbinder.
Notable sold-out shows included Angélique Kidjo's African Symphony at BBC Proms Bradford, with 1,340 attendees, and 100 Years of the Shipping Forecast at BBC Proms Belfast, with 830 attendees.
Over 46% of attendees at the Bristol Beacon residency were first-time visitors, indicating a successful effort to attract new audiences to classical music. The BBC Proms continues to be a celebrated event, bringing together music enthusiasts and newcomers alike to celebrate the beauty and diversity of classical music.
