Channel 4 recorded its biggest-ever month of streaming in October – including records for a single day’s views – driven by popular shows Married at First Sight UK and The Great British Bake Off.
Industry data released by Barb showed the channel registered 6.7 billion viewer minutes in October – the largest since official data was first recorded in November 2021.
Married at First Sight, where couples are ‘married’ having previously never met, became the
biggest on-demand show on the streaming platform across the month. MAFS UK also became the biggest title across all broadcaster VOD in October for all viewers and for those aged 16-34, with VOD viewing for the show up +95% on October last year. The show registered 1.5 billion viewer minutes, with 45% of the programme’s total viewing in the month coming from VOD alone. Taskmaster, Gogglebox, Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, Partygate, Rick and Morty and The Great British Bake Off were the final ingredients that helped the ratings rise to new heights.
Wednesday 25 October became the biggest single day for Channel 4 streaming with 268 million viewer minutes, boosted by episodes of Channel 4 fan favourite programmes including The Great British Bake Off and MAFS UK from across the current series and the archive.
Channel 4 streaming’s single biggest VOD episode in the month was episode two of The Great British Bake Off, with a VOD average audience of 2.9 million, from its total audience in the month of 10.1 million, shortly followed by an episode of MAFS UK with a VOD average audience of 1.4 million, proving that the line-up of classic programmes, coupled with new and exciting offerings, has proven to be a winning formula.
Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz said: “I’m delighted to see viewers flocking to Channel 4 streaming in record numbers to enjoy brilliant shows – both live and on demand. For some time, Channel 4’s strategy has been to prioritise programmes that drive digital growth and become the UK’s public service streamer.”
Channel 4’s previous biggest month came in April earlier this year, where audiences streamed more than five billion minutes of Channel 4 content.
