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The Independent
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Radio 2 breakfast audience drops slightly following Zoe Ball's exit
Listeners to the Radio 2 breakfast show have fallen slightly since Zoe Ball stood down as presenter, in a period that saw several stand-in DJs host the programme before Scott Mills took over the role full-time, new data suggests. The show attracted an estimated weekly audience of 6.45 million across January to March of this year, down from 6.83 million in the previous three months – though higher than the 6.28 million recorded in July-September 2024. Mills began his breakfast stint on January 27, so he was not in the job for the whole of the period covered by the latest figures. Zoe Ball bowed out as presenter on December 20 2024 after nearly six years in the role, with Gaby Roslin and Mark Goodier filling in during January until Mills began. Despite the slight dip in listeners, Radio 2's breakfast slot continues to enjoy the largest audience on national radio at that time of the day, ahead of Radio 4's Today programme, which had an average audience of 5.70 million in the latest period, as well as the breakfast shows on Radio 1 (4.07 million) and commercial broadcaster Greatest Hits (3.11 million). The audience for the Today programme is down very slightly from 5.74 million in the previous three months, but up from 5.61 million in the equivalent period a year ago. The figures have been published by the research body Rajar, and also show that: – Radio 2 remains the most popular station in the UK with an overall weekly audience of 13.11 million in January to March this year, although this is down from 13.65 million in October-December 2024 and is the lowest figure since Rajar resumed reporting in autumn 2021 after a break during the Covid-19 pandemic. – Radio 4 had an average weekly audience of 9.33 million, up from 9.04 million in the previous three months and also up on 9.20 million a year earlier. – Radio 3's audience of 2.15 million is up 8% year-on-year and up 10% on the previous quarter, taking it close to its post-pandemic high of 2.17 million at the end of 2021. – Radio 5 Live saw a jump in listeners both on the previous quarter (up 1%) and year-on-year (up 10%), with an average audience of 5.38 million in January-March. Kate Phillips, interim BBC chief content officer, said: 'In a hectic world, I'm delighted to see audiences finding what they need from the BBC: reflection and delight from Radio 3 with its unrivalled, high quality classical music offer, and news and insights from our distinctive speech networks Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live.' Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said she was 'thrilled' that Radio 2 remains the UK's most popular radio station, adding: 'Congratulations to Vernon Kay who remains the most listened to show in the country with a weekly audience of 6.73 million to his mid-morning show, and to the Radio 2 breakfast show, which maintains its position as the UK's biggest early morning programme.' Radio 2 launched a new weekday schedule at the end of January 2025 which, along with Mills taking over the breakfast show, saw Trevor Nelson host a new afternoon show and DJ Spoony present a late evening slot on Mondays to Thursdays. Elsewhere, the commercial network Greatest Hits saw a slight fall in listeners for the fourth quarter in a row, though its average audience of 7.14 million is still nearly two million higher than it was two years ago, when it stood at 5.12 million. Among the smaller news-based stations, Times Radio recorded its best numbers since launching in 2020, with an average audience of 622,000 listeners across the three months to March, up 3% on the previous quarter and a jump of 24% on the year. GB News averaged 559,000 listeners in the latest quarter, up 19% on the previous three months and up 23% year-on-year, while Talk – formerly Talk Radio – had an average of 485,000 listeners, down 4% on the quarter and down 36% on the year.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC Radio 2 breakfast show's audience drops after Zoe Ball's exit
The BBC Radio 2 breakfast show lost more than 360,000 listeners following Zoe Ball's exit, new audience figures presenter hosted her final breakfast programme in December after six years in the slot, and recently took up a new role fronting Saturday afternoons on the her departure, DJ Mark Goodier covered the show for most of January, until new host Scott Mills took over at the end of that 2 still comfortably has the most popular breakfast show in the UK, attracting an audience of 6.45 million between January and March, a 5% drop on the previous quarter, according to industry ratings body Rajar. Ball had added more than 200,000 listeners during her final three months on the taking over the breakfast show, Mills was replaced on his former afternoon slot by Trevor Nelson, whose evening programme was taken over by DJ Kay attracted an audience of 6.73 million in the first three months of 2025, meaning his mid-morning show retained its crown as the most popular radio programme in the UK. The show is down, however, on the audience of 8.2 million achieved by his predecessor Ken Bruce, who left in 2023. The station's weekly audience fell by about half a million compared with its previous total of 13.65 million in the final quarter of 2024, Rajar 2 chief Helen Thomas said: "In a quarter which saw Radio 2 launch a new daytime schedule in late January, host some of the world's most loved musicians in the Piano Room throughout February, and celebrate country music in March, I'm thrilled that Radio 2 remains the UK's most popular radio station with 13.11m listeners each week."Listening figures often drop after major schedule changes, and Ball herself lost nearly 800,000 listeners in 2019 after Chris Evans' breakfast show regularly attracted more than nine million listeners during Evans' tenure. That figure has not been matched since, although radio audiences have become increasingly fragmented in recent BBC, and Radio 2 in particular, went through a tumultuous period around 2022, which saw several high-profile figures leave the station, either by choice or through schedule Heart's breakfast show, hosted by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, has seen its audience rise by 250,000 attracted a record audience of 4.3 million in the first quarter of the year, cementing its status as the most popular commercial breakfast show in the Gok Wan's first three months co-hosting Magic Radio's breakfast show, alongside Harriet Scott, saw the programme marginally increase its audience to 862, it is still significantly down on the 1.2 million listeners it had a year ago, when it was fronted by former Boyzone singer Ronan breakfast show, hosted by Jordan North, was down by 140,000 listeners after a leap in listeners following his arrival last after a loss of more than a quarter of a million in 2024, Kiss Breakfast, hosted by Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely, climbed by 80,000 in the latest quarter.
