[Shaun]

I know there're plenty of other factors blamed for Big Brother (in the UK)'s sudden decline:
- The sheer fact it's not a new phenomenon any more
- The racism row
- The predictability of certain housemates

But I'm wondering if the shift from television to online viewing is partly to blame. I'm not speaking for everyone but personally I became much more active in watching television on the internet around 2008/2009, which will have been BB9/10. I read earlier that the ratings for last night's highlights show were 870,000. I find that with the world's viewing literally at my fingertips the necessity to watch every night has dissipated somewhat.

Whereas with series like BB3, 4 and 5, at the time, I was glued to my television because the ability to download or stream whole seasons of shows was still in its infancy.

And I don't wish to diss TiBB at all but I think I enjoyed Big Brother more before I joined here... maybe it's just the scrutiny of everything we get up to

[iRyan]

All television ratings are declining, not only in the UK but around the world, because of streaming and downloading and recording. I remember when Survivor first came out in the US it would get like 28 million viewers (the finale got 51 million!), which is basically impossible for any show nowadays - let alone a reality show.

It's not just Big Brother. That's what people need to understand about BB's ratings now, that it really has nothing to do with BB itself, ALL television ratings are declining. Because viewers are finding other ways to view the show outside of their TV sets. And because there's alot more competition and options than there were 5-10 years ago.

[fruit_cake]

There does seem to be a lot more choice in what to watch these days. So yeah it's not helped imo. I always watch it on tvcatchup these days I'm not sure if that counts to the ratings or not.

[Doogle]

I defo got way more into CBB7 and BB11 (watched before I signed up) than CBB9 and BB13 even though I much prefer the latter 2. It's just being on here seems to somehow kill getting hooked because I didn't watch 4oD and I didn't read any spoilers.

But yeah with 10000 ways to catch up now including torrents, YouTube, Demand5, recording and repeats it's just not necessary to watch every night when it's on.