Radio 2 breakfast audience drops slightly following Zoe Ball's exit
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.
In a hectic world, I'm delighted to see audiences finding what they need from the BBC Kate Phillips, interim BBC chief content officer
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.
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