BBC has downplayed the latest figures showing Match of the Day’s ratings have fallen significantly, falling by more than 10 per cent since Gary Lineker’s departure. Former Leicester and Tottenham forward leaves British broadcaster for the last time of the previous season.
Lineker, who was the face of Match of the Day for 26 years, left the role in May. Although he was due to remain at the BBC and host coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, he has reached an agreement to leave the company early without receiving anything in return.
His exit, which came after he shared an anti-Semitic rat emoji on Instagram, was the final straw for the broadcaster. They had previously refrained from firing him despite his repeated testing of social media guidelines. Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates will replace Lineker and form a rotating roster for the 2025-26 season and beyond.
They have added Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney as a new pundit. Since the start of the new Premier League season two months ago, viewership of the BBC’s flagship soccer program has fallen from 2.68 million to 2.39 million, according to the Telegraph.
This represents a 10% decrease compared to the previous season. However, it has been suggested that some viewers have migrated to the broadcaster’s new online highlights on BBC iPlayer.
In response to these new figures, the BBC said: “In an on-demand world, we don’t judge success based on overnight ratings. A significant proportion of Match of the Day viewers now watch on BBC iPlayer, the UK’s fastest growing streaming, video-on-demand platform.”
“This is not a decline. We are adapting to changing viewer behavior, as we should all be. Match of the Day is reaching more people on multiple platforms.”
In a potentially risky move, the BBC has also started posting Premier League highlights on its website more than two hours before Match of the Day broadcasts, which could further reduce viewership numbers.
BBC sources revealed that the clip was watched by an average of 1.7 million people each week. These changes were implemented after Alex Kagelski was appointed athletic director last year.
Even before the show’s longest-serving host, Gary Lineker, left the show, viewership for Match of the Day had been declining. The final season, which ran from August to October, saw a drop of more than 8 percent from the 2.92 million viewers recorded during the same period in 2023.
The decline in “Game of the Day” ratings is consistent with an overall decline in television viewership. This season, the show has managed to attract an average of 34.8 percent of the TV viewing population, which is an increase compared to the same period over the past two years.
