They say the proof is in the pud – and it looks like Channel 4’s £75 million gamble to swipe the Great British Bake Off from the BBC, which was home to the popular baking contest for seven years, has paid off.
The Mary Berry-less final episode, which aired last night (31 October), pulled in its largest audience of the series with 7.7 million viewers and a 34.6% audience share between 8-9.15pm, making it Channel 4’s biggest overnight performance in five years since The Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony in 2012.
The show peaked with 8.9 million viewers and a 37.9% share and attracted an average of 2 million 16-34 year old viewers – a 57.5% share – making it the biggest episode on commercial TV so far this year for the broadcaster’s key demographic.
The overnight series average of 6.2 million is also Channel 4’s biggest in over six years since Big Fat Gypsy Weddings in 2011 – for all viewers as well as 16-34s.
Taking into account time-shifted viewing on a television over a seven day period, the series is currently attracting a consolidated audience of 8.9 million viewers and a 33.4% share of audience per episode – rising to 10.4m viewers with the addition of linear repeats.
“It’s testament to the phenomenal appeal of The Great British Bake Off that almost nine million people watched Sophie triumph as Channel 4’s first ever Bake Off winner – a fitting finale to the most watched series for young viewers on any channel this year,” said Alex Mahon, Channel 4 CEO.
“Love Productions, along with Paul, Prue, Noel and Sandi, have served up a showstopper of a series and I’m delighted that they’ll all be back in the tent on Channel 4 next year.”
The show also achieved record digital performance to become All 4’s biggest ever title averaging 1.7 million views per episode on the on-demand channel (based on viewing across all platforms in a 0-7 day window).
Ed: We were cynical of the move from the BBC to C4 at the beginning and published this scathing article here. However, now that the series has come to a close, we can safely say we love what Channel 4 has done and look forward to more of the same next year. That’s egg on our faces.
