The Great British Bake Off has delivered Channel 4 one of its biggest ever audiences after record numbers of viewers watched the programme on catch-up services.
Viewing figures for the first episode of Bake Off on Channel 4 revealed it was watched by a total of 12 million people. This includes a live audience of 6.5 million when the show aired last Tuesday but also 1.5 million watching repeats aired since then and 1.1 million watching it on Channel 4’s catch-up service All 4 over the past seven days, which is a record.
The viewing figures were the third highest audience for a Bake Off launch since the show began in 2010, although the first episode of last year’s series on BBC1 attracted a total audience of 13.6 million.
Channel 4’s highest ever audience is 13.8 million, for the drama series A Woman of Substance in 1985, while Big Brother brought in almost 10 million viewers at the peak of its popularity at the start of the millennium. Bake Off’s performance puts it in the top-10 Channel 4 audiences of all time.
Last week’s episode of Bake Off was the first to be shown on Channel 4 since it paid £75m to take the show away from the BBC, which aired the first seven series. Judge Paul Hollywood is the only one of the original stars of Bake Off to have made the move to Channel 4, with fellow judge Mary Berry and presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins all leaving.
Hollywood is joined in the new series by judge Prue Leith and presenters Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding.
Bake Off attracted 2.7 million 16– to 34–year–olds, making it the biggest programme for younger viewers on any channel in 2017 according to Channel 4.
Jay Hunt, Channel 4’s chief creative officer, said: “Bake Off has well and truly landed on Channel 4 with episode one delivering the highest number of young viewers for any show on any channel this year.
“I’m thrilled viewers have warmed to Paul, Prue, Noel and Sandi and are enjoying the exceptional standard of baking.”
It is vital for Channel 4 that Bake Off attracts a significant audience so it can recoup its costs. Hunt had previously said that Bake Off needed to attract at least 3 million viewers an episode to break even and that she would be delighted if the programme attracted between 5 million and 7 million viewers.
Viewing figures for the second episode of Bake Off on Tuesday night dipped slightly to an average live audience of 6 million. This was enough for a 27.6% share of the audience, but it was beaten by the return of BBC1 drama Doctor Foster, which attracted 6.3 million viewers.
Bake Off aired between 8pm and 9.15pm, while Doctor Foster ran from 9pm to 10pm, meaning there was a 15-minute overlap. Doctor Foster stars Suranne Jones as Dr Gemma Foster, a woman coping with her ex-husband coming back into her life.
