BBC Radio 2 still the biggest but do listeners think it’s the best?

The latest audience figures show that BBC Radio 2 is the UK’s most popular station, but is the crown slipping?

Radio industry body, RAJAR shows Radio 2’s weekly audience down very slightly from 14.4 million in Q3 2022 to 14.2 million in Q4 2022. Compared to the same period the year before, the numbers are down from 14.8 million in Q4 2021 to the current 14.2 million.

Just a few years ago, the station constantly achieved over 15 million weekly listeners.

Zoe Ball’s flagship breakfast show, although the most listened to breakfast radio programme, has lost listeners, with 7.14 million now tuning in, down from 7.36 million in the previous quarter.

The station has recently come under fire for shifting to appeal to a younger audience, resulting in the exit of some of its big name presenters.

Radio 2 has the luxury of not having to play adverts, but commercial stations snapping up its ex-presenters are taking advantage of the big names.

Greatest hits Radio has seen growth with its audience increasing since Simon Mayo joined just over two years ago. His Drivetime audience now has 1.5 million listeners. The station has done particularly well in London and overall has increased to 4.4 million listeners. It hopes to further improve numbers when Ken Bruce joins to host mid-mornings from this Aril.

Boom Radio, which is aimed at Radio 2’s “ex-listeners”, has also seen a boost in listenership. The station’s audience is up 88,000 (or 20%) from 443,000 to 531,000. The figure is even better year on year, with audiences double what they were.

Elsewhere, Heart retains its title as the number one commercial radio brand with 10.9 million listeners. Weekly reach has increased 750,000 over the last quarter.

Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial radio show in the UK with 3.9 million weekly listeners.

Commercial radio continues to attract more listeners than the BBC, reaching 38.1 million people compared with 33 million listeners hearing live BBC Radio each week.

Global remains the biggest commercial radio operator, with a record 26.3 million listeners. It has the top three commercial radio brands in the UK, Heart, Capital and Smooth, whilst Bauer also gets its own record 21.6 million this quarter.