What’s The Big Deal About Big Brother?
Big Brother has long been heralded as Channel 4’s cash cow and is undoubtedly its biggest TV event of the year, providing advertisers with highly sought after access to the elusive 16 to 34 year-old audience. However, the fourth series of the reality TV extravaganza failed to hit the highs achieved in previous years and viewing figures suggest that audiences may have reached a ceiling.
The latest data from BARB and Media Planning Group shows that the fourth series of Big Brother began on a high note with a peak audience of 7.4 million people tuning in to welcome the new housemates. However, by the end of its nine week run, viewing figures had dipped, with both the ninth eviction and the final show attracting significantly smaller audiences than in previous years.* TVR’s for all adults during this year’s final live eviction show were 38% lower than in 2002, suggesting the programme failed to capture the public interest to the same degree as the finalé of Big Brother 3.
Ratings for the fourth series of Big Brother never reached those achieved by the first show, suggesting that expectation surrounding the reality TV phenomenon amongst both viewers and advertisers maybe out of sync with reality. A direct comparison of 16-34 year old adults watching the last two years of Big Brother reveals that after the second eviction, the fourth series consistently underperformed compared to the third series.
However, despite the acres of column inches dedicated to the much heralded decline of reality TV, the genre clearly still has some mileage left in it. Big Brother 4 has shrugged off criticism to provide Channel 4 with a huge TV event, extensive press coverage and double the audience for it usual 10pm weeknight slot.
Mark Priestly, associate director at Carat, says: “People have been very quick to condemn this series of Big Brother and with the benefit of hindsight the producers could have paid more attention to the chemistry between the housemates. However, in the context of the current schedules the series was a success for Channel 4.”
Julian Bellamy, head of factual entertainment at Channel 4, added: “Every weekday for the last nine weeks, Big Brother has more than doubled the channel’s audience at 10pm. The public’s appetite for reality TV shows, and for the Big Brother of them all, seems as great as ever.”
Channel 4 has also benefited from its lucrative sponsorship deal with 02, which has become something of a blueprint in the world of interactive advertising. It immerses the sponsor into the programme, providing text updates and revenue opportunities from logos and ringtones.
However John Muszynski, chief broadcast investor at Starcom Worldwide, claims there are only a limited amount of advertisers prepared to associate themselves with the the “unknown quantity” that is reality TV. He comments: “Advertisers care about the environment they are advertising in, not simply chasing ratings. Therefore some advertisers are often willing to pay more for scripted programming. A lot of reality TV programming is not conducive to advertising.”
Big Brother is the most successful and highest rating long running series in Channel 4’s twenty year history and Endemol has already been contracted to produce a further two series. Love it or loathe it, it look likes Big Brother is here to stay as reality TV becomes a quick fix solution for terrestrial channels chasing ratings in the increasingly crowded television marketplace.
*It must be noted that comparing the last four series is somewhat problematic as in the first five weeks of the first series the show was screened at 11pm.
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive