Holly Willoughby's popularity increases since leaving 'This Morning'

Holly Willoughby's popularity has surged, as she acquired nearly 39,000 new followers in the past month, while engagement on the "This Morning" platform has waned since her departure.

The presenter, 42, tearfully made the decision to quit 'This Morning' after 14 years at the weekend.

Her exit from the show comes after a former Pizza Hut worker was remanded in custody last week charged over an alleged plot to kidnap and murder Ms Willoughby.

Gavin Plumb, 36, from Harlow, Essex, is accused of soliciting to commit murder and incitement to commit kidnap in relation to the broadcaster.

While Holly has seen a rise of 38,970 followers on Instagram, 'This Morning's social media page has lost 213 followers since her announcement on the 10 of October.

Online searches for the presenter have risen by 651% in the past week after she announced her resignation.

At the time of publication, Holly has an 8.5 million following on Instagram, while 'This Morning' has 2.6 million.

An ITV spokesman said: 'The past month has seen record figures across This Morning's digital platforms reaching almost 60 million unique accounts across all digital platforms; culminating in more than 94 million video views for the past month alone.'

'This Morning continues to be one of ITV's top five streaming programmes on ITVX with over 18 million streaming hours so far this year, proving that despite being on air for 35 years.

'It remains one of the nation's longest running and most popular multi-platform daytime shows that continues to evolve along with its audiences.'

It comes amid reports that BBC chiefs look set to swoop on Holly in a bid to tempt her over to the broadcaster while her future at ITV remains in doubt.