Nationwide secures headline sponsorship of Times Radio Breakfast

The world’s biggest building society and most trusted banking brand Nationwide will sponsor Times Radio’s Weekday Breakfast for the next twelve months.

The multi award-winning flagship breakfast show is presented by Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell from Monday to Thursday and Chloe Tilly and Calum Macdonald on Fridays. The breakfast show provides listeners with trusted news, analysis, expert opinion and includes interviews with those making the decisions. It will be the go-to destination for those who want to be in the know as the country moves towards a General Election this year.

Wavemaker UK identified the sponsorship as part of Nationwide’s strategic planning following Nationwide’s rebrand in October 2023, its biggest in 36 years. The brand’s repositioning is devised to modernise the building society and drive home that Nationwide is a member-owned mutual which means everything Nationwide does is entirely for the benefit of its customers, not shareholders.

To bring the sponsorship to life, Aasmah, Stig, Chloe and Calum will remind listeners that Nationwide is the ‘good way to bank’. The deal includes a new weekly feature called ‘Money Talks’, in which a respected journalist or commentator will join the presenters to discuss a big news story and give listeners an understanding of how it impacts their own lives and personal financial situation.

Times Radio Programme Director, Tim Levell, said: “We’re delighted to have agreed a long-term partnership with Nationwide and the breakfast show. Times Radio is a highly respected and trusted station for news and politics with a strong ABC1 audience, and this fits perfectly with the brand principles of Nationwide. We look forward to working with them over the next twelve months.”

Richard Warren, Director of Brand Marketing and Experience at Nationwide, said: “We’re excited to sponsor the breakfast show and highlight how Nationwide is a good way to bank. Our relationship with our money has never been more relevant than at this time and to surface issues and stories in an engaging way is incredibly important and will resonate with many listeners.”

Monica Newell, Content Lead at Wavemaker UK said “Following the launch of Nationwide’s rebrand, Times Radio is the perfect partner to land Nationwide’s ‘a good way to bank’ campaign by sparking new opinions through renown expertise and thought leadership.’ 

The latest RAJAR figures shows Times Radio has a weekly reach of nearly 500k, with weekly listening hours up 21.9% year-on-year to 3.9m weekly. The station has one of the highest ABC1 profiles in commercial radio (70% on the breakfast show) and it set a new record for the length of time that people tune in, with listeners staying with Times Radio for an average 7.8 hours a week.