Zoe Ball has UK’s largest breakfast radio audience, but figures have dipped

Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 amusement enjoys the biggest assemblage of listeners for immoderate meal programme successful the UK, though figures person fallen somewhat successful caller years.

An mean of 6.28 cardinal radical tuned successful to her amusement each week betwixt July and September of this year, according to the latest disposable information from the assemblage probe assemblage Rajar.

This is comfortably up of the largest nationalist commercialized meal amusement successful the state connected Heart Radio, presented by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, which averaged 4.05 cardinal listeners successful the aforesaid period.

It is besides bigger than the audiences for different BBC vigor meal programmes, including Today connected Radio 4 (5.85 million) and Greg James connected Radio 1 (4.31 million).

But it is the lowest fig for Zoe Ball’s amusement successful the 3 years since work of listening figures resumed aft a intermission owed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The archetypal information reported by Rajar aft the Covid interruption was for the extended play of July to October 2021 and showed Zoe Ball had an mean play assemblage of 7.22 million.

This is much than 900,000 higher than the 6.28 cardinal listeners for July to September 2024.

It has not been a dependable decline, arsenic determination person been immoderate occasions wherever her numbers person accrued connected the erstwhile 3 months.

Overall, however, the figures suggest the assemblage for the Radio 2 meal amusement has been connected a wide but gentle downwards way successful the past 3 years, dropping beneath 7 cardinal successful April-June 2023 and beneath six-and-a-half cardinal successful April-June 2024.

Such a inclination is not unsocial to Zoe Ball, with some the Radio 4 Today programme and the 5 Live meal amusement experiencing a akin semipermanent dip successful listeners implicit the past 3 years, though, arsenic with Radio 2, the signifier is not dependable and determination are spikes successful the figures coinciding with large quality and athletics events.

These changes successful assemblage numbers are besides apt to bespeak shifts successful listening habits successful the UK, specified arsenic the increasing popularity of podcasts, oregon for experiencing vigor shows successful clip signifier connected societal media.

Rajar paused the work of listening figures aft the play January-March 2020, arsenic the commencement of the pandemic meant the organisation could nary longer cod survey information successful person.

None of the pre-Covid figures are straight comparable with those published since Rajar resumed its reporting successful autumn 2021, owed to changes successful the mode the information is compiled and calculated.