Feature: Channel 4’s Big Brother Bulls-Eye
Big Brother 3 has finally come to an end, and this year Channel 4’s near blanket coverage and aggressive marketing strategy have helped to make the reality TV extravaganza even more appealing to audiences and advertisers.
Unofficial overnight figures from BARB, show that on average Big Brother 3 attracted around 5.7 million viewers, representing a 25% increase on Big Brother 2, which drew 4.6 million viewers per episode, and an even larger increase on the first series of the reality TV show (see below). Last Friday’s episodes of Big Brother 3, which saw the final housemates evicted, helped Channel 4 to achieve its highest ever daily audience share (22.6%), beating BBC1 (21.1%) and ITV1 (20.2%) for the first time and dismissing concerns that Channel 4 had misjudged public interest.
According to David Peters, broadcast director at Carat, everyone underestimated the impact of this year’s instalment of the reality TV show, which he described as “unbelievably” successful in delivering the elusive 16-34 year-old demographic to advertisers. Peters says that any brand trying to reach a young audience over the last few months had Big Brother on its lips, because of the show’s ability to deliver a “record audience with a great profile.”
Figures from BARB for the first eight weeks of Big Brother 3 show that the series attracted an average of around 2.5 million 16-34 year-olds, up from 2.4 million last year and 2.1 million in the previous year (see below).
According to Peters, the popularity of Big Brother amongst such a desirable demographic will, in the long-term, help Channel 4 to increase its audience share and ultimately to generate much needed advertising revenue. He says: “ITV1 may still be watched by more 16-34s, but the gap is narrowing. Channel 4 has cemented its relationship with that demographic, allowing it to compete more effectively with its rivals.”
With coverage of this year’s Big Brother spanning a range of media, the risk of viewer fatigue was very real. However, Channel 4’s digital entertainment channel, E4, enjoyed larger than average audiences, with Big Brother’s Little Brother experiencing a 200% year on year increase in viewers, to around 700,000.
As in previous years Big Brother 3‘s interactive options also proved popular, with the number of digital viewers accessing live streaming from the house increasing by 176% year on year to 193,000. This success was mirrored by the Big Brother website, which received over 2 million page impressions over the course of the series and the SMS element of the show, which generated over 10 million text message eviction votes over the nine week period.
It’s easy to get carried away with the success of Big Brother 3. However, the programme’s popularity could be something of a double-edged sword for Channel 4, which is going to have to strive to ensure that next year’s Big Brother lives up to expectations. Peters says: “It will be a challenge to top this year’s Big Brother. Even the best programmes suffer from over-exposure and Channel 4 is going to have to work hard to ensure that Big Brother doesn’t run out of steam.”
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive