Amy
24-06-2003, 10:00 PM
This is from Media Guardian (http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,983589,00.html)
Channel 4 has pulled out all the stops in the battle for Big Brother viewers after ratings plunged nearly a million viewers below last year's figures.
The latest ploy of swapping a UK contestant with one from the African Big Brother house is the most dramatic yet, and indicates the level of concern about viewing figures for Big Brother 4.
Over the past two weeks the average audience figures for Big Brother 4 have been nearly 1 million viewers below those for the same period in last year's series.
Big Brother has averaged 4.3 million viewers and a 21% audience share on Channel 4 between Monday June 9 and Sunday June 22.
This is 800,000 down on last year when, during weeks three and four of the show, the contestants were split between poor and rich sides of the house and audiences were hooked on the drunken antics of Jade Goody, PJ and the Big Brother class of 2002.
The two weeks in the middle of Big Brother 3 provided Jade and PJ's did-they-didn't-they frolic under the bedclothes; Sandy's break for freedom over the roof of the house; and the arrival of replacement Tim Marlow, who was dubbed "nice but dim" by the tabloids.
Big Brother 3 averaged 5.1 million viewers and a 25% audience share during that period and hit nearly 6 million some nights.
This year's Big Brother has failed to produce the same level of drunken incidents, largely because the housemates failed their first three weekly tasks and have not had the same amount of alcohol to fuel more outrageous behaviour.
But questions must also be asked about how the show has been cast this year, with a relatively quiet and well-behaved group of contestants.
The stand-out character has been Jon Tickle who, before his eviction on Friday, kept viewers entertained with his nerdy behaviour and long discourses on Star Wars.
It remains to be seen how the surprise twist of flying contestant Cameron Stout to South Africa and replacing him with Ugandan Gaetano Juuko Kagwa shakes things up.
But the mere fact of introducing someone from another continent is likely to produce some culture clash incidents.
Gaetano, a 30-year-old law student, was seen by South African viewers cavorting under the bed sheets with a female Big Brother contestant following a boozy Saturday night shortly before he left for the UK.
A spokesman for Big Brother producer Endemol said the South African swap had been planned since October and promised there were more twists in store for the remaining seven UK contestants.
"We're going to be springing more surprises on viewers, but we do that in every series," he added.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman said the broadcaster was pleased with the way the show was going so far.
"We'll wait and see what the show has got in store. It's still only halfway through," she added.
Ratings for Big Brother 4 have been roughly on a par over the past fortnight with the second series in 2001 and audiences are still at least double what Channel 4 would normally get in the 10pm slot.
Channel 4 has pulled out all the stops in the battle for Big Brother viewers after ratings plunged nearly a million viewers below last year's figures.
The latest ploy of swapping a UK contestant with one from the African Big Brother house is the most dramatic yet, and indicates the level of concern about viewing figures for Big Brother 4.
Over the past two weeks the average audience figures for Big Brother 4 have been nearly 1 million viewers below those for the same period in last year's series.
Big Brother has averaged 4.3 million viewers and a 21% audience share on Channel 4 between Monday June 9 and Sunday June 22.
This is 800,000 down on last year when, during weeks three and four of the show, the contestants were split between poor and rich sides of the house and audiences were hooked on the drunken antics of Jade Goody, PJ and the Big Brother class of 2002.
The two weeks in the middle of Big Brother 3 provided Jade and PJ's did-they-didn't-they frolic under the bedclothes; Sandy's break for freedom over the roof of the house; and the arrival of replacement Tim Marlow, who was dubbed "nice but dim" by the tabloids.
Big Brother 3 averaged 5.1 million viewers and a 25% audience share during that period and hit nearly 6 million some nights.
This year's Big Brother has failed to produce the same level of drunken incidents, largely because the housemates failed their first three weekly tasks and have not had the same amount of alcohol to fuel more outrageous behaviour.
But questions must also be asked about how the show has been cast this year, with a relatively quiet and well-behaved group of contestants.
The stand-out character has been Jon Tickle who, before his eviction on Friday, kept viewers entertained with his nerdy behaviour and long discourses on Star Wars.
It remains to be seen how the surprise twist of flying contestant Cameron Stout to South Africa and replacing him with Ugandan Gaetano Juuko Kagwa shakes things up.
But the mere fact of introducing someone from another continent is likely to produce some culture clash incidents.
Gaetano, a 30-year-old law student, was seen by South African viewers cavorting under the bed sheets with a female Big Brother contestant following a boozy Saturday night shortly before he left for the UK.
A spokesman for Big Brother producer Endemol said the South African swap had been planned since October and promised there were more twists in store for the remaining seven UK contestants.
"We're going to be springing more surprises on viewers, but we do that in every series," he added.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman said the broadcaster was pleased with the way the show was going so far.
"We'll wait and see what the show has got in store. It's still only halfway through," she added.
Ratings for Big Brother 4 have been roughly on a par over the past fortnight with the second series in 2001 and audiences are still at least double what Channel 4 would normally get in the 10pm slot.