Big Brother Eviction Draws Almost 5 Million Viewers

Almost 5 million viewers tuned into Channel 4 on Friday for the first of this year’s Big Brother evictions.

Audiences for the programme, which saw twenty year-old nursery assistant Anouska become the first to get voted off the reality TV gameshow, averaged 4.9 million between 10pm and 10.30pm, securing an impressive 24.3% share of viewing for Channel 4.

This represents an increase of 8% on the equivalent show of last year’s Big Brother, which saw an average of 4.5 million viewers tune in to see mature student, Lynne, become the first to leave the house.

The earlier 8.30pm show, which saw the housemates anxiously await news of the pending eviction, attracted an average of 3.3 million viewers, equating to a 16.8% share of the available audience. Ratings peaked at 3.4 million just before the end of the programme when Davina McCall made the dreaded announcement.

The fourth series of Big Brother burst to our screens earlier this month with a record audience of more than 7 million people tuning in for the first episode of the reality TV extravaganza (see Big Brother Bounces Back With Record Audiences). However, Channel 4 has so far been unable to repeat this performance and viewing figures for one of the most anticipated events in the TV calendar have failed to dazzle media commentators.

The latest figures from Hitwise show that the official Big Brother website has become the most visited television website in the UK, with reality TV fans spending an average of 6 minutes and 37 seconds making use of the services on offer (see Big Brother Draws Audiences Online).

Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.co.uk

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