KevinLygo, managing director, media and entertainment at ITV, has revealed what he thinks are the key ingredients to the success of the upcoming revival of “Big Brother” on the U.K. commercial broadcaster this fall.
The British version of the iconic reality TV series is set to return to screens this year after what will be a five-year hiatus on network ITV2 and streaming platform ITVX. From its launch in 2000 until 2010 the show aired on Channel 4 before moving to Channel 5 in 2011. It ran there for seven years until Channel 5 finally retired the format in 2018.
Speaking to the media during an earnings call after ITV declared its 2022 financial results, Lygo said: “The key to ‘Big Brother’ is to keep it like it was in its golden period – to have it more interesting, intelligent, upmarket etc. than other reality shows. It’s a great addition to have in the autumn [fall] period.”
Lygo said that the other big hitter for ITV would be “Love Island” over the summer. When asked about the relative underperformance of “Love Island” the winter past, Lygo said: “The winter period is a much more competitive environment generally across every service. We were very happy with the figures honestly. And it’s still this extraordinary phenomenon that getting nearly three million viewers every night at nine o’clock – the biggest young show that is on the television set. So there’s no panic at all about ‘Love Island’ and we’ll continue to make it. It’s rolling out successfully across the rest of the world as well.”
ITV CEO Carolyn McCall added that 2/3rd of the “Love Island” viewership was from the 16-34 age bracket. “For the first time ever, more viewers are watching ‘Love Island’ on ITVX than ITV, because it’s so convenient, they can catch up really late at night,” McCall said.
