Radio 2 in crisis: Over half a million switch off at Breakfast as Heart's listenership swells
BBC Radio 2 has entered a state of crisis and is on its way to a point where it will have shed a million listeners in a year.
According to new data revealed today, Scott Mills has lost a massive 600,000 listeners from the BBC's flagship breakfast show, since Zoe Ball stepped down only last December. Official RAJAR figures show the station's figures are sinking, with its weekly audience now having fallen by a massive 2 million in just three years.
Meanwhile Boom Radio, a station considered to be a commercial rival to Radio 2 has recoded as record 711,000 listeners, positioning it as the UK's fastest growing station.
And Heart has extended its lead as the UK's biggest radio brand, with 29 million people tuning into the station which is home to Jamie Theakston, Amanda Holden, Emma Bunton and Mark Wright.
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Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK with 4.2 million weekly listeners. Whilst Mills has 6.2 million listeners on Radio 2, the gap is closing.
An insider told The Version: "Radio 2 maintains the narrative that it is the UK's biggest station, but the fact is the license fee payers bankroll it and they're the people that are switching off from it.
The universal appeal of Zoe Ball is not there with Scott in the mornings, and listeners are defecting to Heart. Listeners will have noticed Sara Cox has started covering Breakfast and they shouldn't be surprised if she and Mills swap slots by the end of the year. The BBC needs Radio 2 to perform better than this".
Elsewhere in the RAJAR figures, Capital, Smooth and Greatest Hits Radio all faired well, but Virgin, Magic and KISS all lost listeners.