Where did it all go wrong for Big Brother?

[Jason.]

I don't mean on Channel 5, I mean on Channel 4.

BB1-BB7 were pretty much the years when the media cared most about the show and the ratings were very strong.

But then ever since after CBB5 the ratings have dropped and dropped.

Look at BB7, which was the third highest rated series, with an average of 4.7m.

CBB5 followed, with an average of 4.7m, admittedly the ratings for this series were only high because of the controversy surrounding the infamous race row. I think had that not happened, this series would've probably averaged around 4.0m.

A few months later, we got BB8, which averaged 3.9m (0.8m drop from BB7). The second biggest drop, after BB4 (1.2m), and the least watched series at the time.

Then another year passes, and we get BB9, which averages 3.6m (0.3m less than the year before). That's over 1m viewers lost in just two years.

In 2009, the show faces another massive drop of 1.1m, with BB10 averaging just 2.5m. That's over 2m viewers lost in just three years.

Ratings slowly arose during 2010 for both CBB7, and BB11. Both of which averaged 3.7m and 2.8m.
Despite, being higher than the 2009 series. The ratings were still low.

BB5 - 5.1m
CBB3 - 4.2m
BB6 - 4.6m
CBB4 - 4.9m
BB7 - 4.7m
CBB5 - 4.6m

BB8 - 3.9m
BB9 - 3.6m
CBB6 - 3.3m
BB10 - 2.5m
CBB7 - 3.7m
BB11 - 2.8m

My question for this is why did this happen?

Did people loose interest in the show?
Did the infamous race row put people off Big Brother?
Did the controversial voting an ex-housemate back in twist, in BB7 put people off voting and watching?

Where did it all go wrong for Big Brother?

[Jake.]

BB8. CBB5 may have damaged the brand, but the interest was still there (6.6 million watched the launch, the 4th highest). The weak selection of male housemates, an all female launch and BGT did the series no favours.

[Marsh.]

Yeah, CBB5 can be seen as the point where things really started to drop but it wasn't the sole reason as various things over the years have sullied the show to the point where BB16 is showing how the show is in a state in a variety of different ways.

[Firewire]

Race row started the decline.

BB8 was a good series, in my opinion, but I understand why people see it as a weak one as it had a terrible winner. With the removal of live feed for BB9, people also lost interest. Announcing the show's cancellation over a year before it was due to end didn't help the show, either, as people had given up.

[Pete.]

Producers

[Daniel.]

BB7 returning twist and CBB5 race row combined

[Vicky.]

For me BB7. So many people I know stopped watching/voting after they put nikki back in (with a chance to win too) and I think its gone downhill from there really...

[GiRTh]

BB8 that started with the all female launch night was the beginning of the p*ss takinbg manipulation.

[Ashley.]

The producers wasted all their stamina on BB7. When they realised the series had potential, they started working hard on producing great twists and tasks for the series, which they did. But they put all their eggs into one basket, and thus found it difficult to produce equally amazing stuff for future series' and people just lost interest.