Scott Mills will replace Zoe Ball on the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show today. (Image: PA)
has been dealt a devastating blow just hours before his first show as the host of Breakfast Show. The DJ is replacing after her five-year tenure on the morning show.
Mills is no stranger to the show as he replaced Ball for a significant period in 2024 after she took extended breaks following the and throughout the summer.
However, data shows that figures took a dip when Mills, 51, was presenting, raising the question of whether his promotion to the show’s permanent host will be a success.
Records show that listening figures were higher when Ball, 54, was at the helm. Between January and March 2024, 6.6m listeners tuned in to the breakfast show, according to RAJAR.
Listening figures dropped slightly over the following three months, with Ball notably missing from her show for a large period of this time. Between April and June 2024, 6.42m people listened to The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show.
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Scott Mills has already seen a dip in listening figures. (Image: BBC)
Radio 2 was down as a whole between August and October, dropping 1.2 percent. Figures for The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show dropped even further during this period, with 6.28 million listeners.
Ball was absent for the majority of this period, presenting just a few shows before permanently returning in late September.
Data for the fourth quarter of 2024, when Ball predominantly hosted, is yet to be released.
It is likely that the should expect a dip in listening figures, but could it be a continuing problem?
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Scott Mills has presented BBC Radio for more than 20 years. (Image: Getty)
Pam Lyddon, founder of Bright Star Broadcast and PR agency believes that Mills is a “great” replacement for Ball as he has already shown that he can do the job.
“Scott Mills replacing Zoe is great for the brand as he is a veteran Radio 1 DJ who most of the Radio 2 listeners have grown up and listened to,” Lyddon said.
“He is also a safe pair of hands in the morning and when Zoe was poorly he showed that he could do the job.
“Radio 2 tested him out and they would have known for a long time she had resigned so it’s good to bring someone in to test. They have always done this with other presenters as far back as Chris Evans.”
Zoe Ball quit the Breakfast show after five years. (Image: Getty)
Lyddon continued: “I think Scott is a creative presenter and needs to bring his own personality to the Breakfast Show like he did with the afternoon show. The Music Police was a perfect example of a great creative slot – what is that ear worm plaguing us? Scott rallied the Radio 2 community to help.”
The PR expert does believe that Radio 2 producers need to be “mindful”, adding: “Gone are the days of the loud morning presenter – Radio 2 listeners want comfort and cosiness – he needs to be his own genuine and authentic self.
“They have grown up with Radio 1 and now 2 so should always be mindful of that.”
Mills has promised that his Radio 2 breakfast show will be a “brand new start” for him, while suggesting it would be more news-focused than predecessors.
Mills told Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch: “I’m so excited. Obviously, I’ve been on the radio for a very long time, but this feels like… a brand-new start.
“I think when I was on Radio 1, I filled in on the Breakfast Show, more than anyone else in history, but it’s never been my show. So it’s big, the biggest show in Europe. I am nervous.”
Ball was the ‘s in 2023/24, with a salary between £950,000 and £954,999.
£315,000 to £319,999, the report said, up from £300,000 to £304,999 during the previous period.