This week came news that the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show has lost nearly 1.5 million listeners. This drop came after the exit of long-time host Zoe Ball. After six wonderful years, Ball’s final breakfast program was in December. Now, she’s transitioned to a new role on Saturday afternoons at the station. As a result, the changes caused these stations to lose most of their audiences, more than 360,000 listeners in total. Now, the show’s overall viewership is just 6.45 million from January to March, a 5% decline from the final quarter survey.
Scott Mills, who officially replaced Grimshaw as the new breakfast show host at the end of January, He replaced DJ Mark Goodier, who had covered for much of that month. Even with the arrival of Mills, the show has lost more than half of what used to be its big audiences. Despite these efforts, the most recent figures show a troubling drop-off. The program plummeted from 8.2 million listeners when Ken Bruce exited earlier in 2023 and is still well short of the more than nine million listeners it had during Chris Evans’ tenure.
This is an incredible feat, especially considering that her predecessor Zoe Ball increased her listenership by more than 200,000 listeners in her last year on the show. This makes the current decline all the more remarkable. Her biggest test came in 2019 when Chris Evans departed the show. As a consequence, she lost close to 800,000 of her listeners. These latest difficult times have put listener retention and engagement into focus, as NPR pivots in this time of shifting leadership.
Ball’s exit leaves Radio 2 in a precarious position. The station’s total average weekly audience is down around a half million listeners, from 13.65 million in that last quarter of 2024. Vernon Kay’s mid-morning show attracted an audience of 6.73 million in the first three months of 2025, reflecting shifting listener preferences within the station’s programming.
Even with all of this drama brewing beneath the surface, Radio 2 is still by far the UK’s most listened to radio station. Helen Thomas expressed satisfaction with this status, stating, “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.”
Even industry all-stars concede that Scott Mills has an uphill battle ahead. Matt Deegan emphasized the importance of maintaining listener engagement, stating, “The challenge for him and his team is to take nothing for granted and keep working to deliver a show that existing and new listeners will like. There’s never been more competition for that audience.“
Scott Mills, who began his new role on Oct. He requires to find his way around under these changes as well as strive to art, enticing you of these loyal an innovative, new listeners. These next few months will be key. He will have to move fast to turn around the downward slide that’s been seen all too recently or reinforce Radio 2’s lead as the UK’s favourite radio station.
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