Selling like hot cakes: Bake Off final smashes Channel 4 ratings record
Channel 4 last night smashed its ratings records after millions of Brits tuned in to the final of The Great British Bake Off.
The final baked up a storm with a record-breaking average audience of 9.2m viewers, taking an almost 40 per cent slice of the audience pie.
Viewing numbers for the baking bonanza peaked at 10.4m, marking Channel 4’s largest ever overnight audience.
The episode, which saw 20-year-old Peter crowned as the show’s youngest ever champion, drew the highest share of young viewers to any Bake Off episode to date.
It marked Channel 4’s highest share of viewers aged 16 to 24 since Big Brother in 2006, while this series is the second highest rated on TV for young people this year.
Channel 4 snapped up The Great British Bake Off from the BBC in 2016 after negotiations between the public service broadcaster and production firm Love Productions collapsed.
The broadcaster has since cashed in on the show, which offers attractive spots to advertisers due to its high viewership among the highly sought-after younger demographic.
Last night’s success will also come as a boost to Channel 4, which is facing renewed calls for privatisation amid accusations its commercially-funded business model was not sustainable.
Despite this, the broadcaster has said its advertising revenue bounced back after a sharp decline caused by the pandemic, and is now on track to end the year with a financial surplus.