One year left in the product life cycle of big brother

If you are looking for a slightly more up-to-date or youthful example of the product life cycle, you can’t go wrong with Channel 4’s flagship product Big Brother…

The next series of Big Brother in 2010 will be the last to be aired on Channel 4 as it comes to the end of its latest (£180m) three year contract with the format’s owner and producer Endemol.

The Guardian and others report how the viewing figures for the 2009 series (series 10) contained the lowest audience for an episode and second least watched launch night. Average audiences - the main measure of market share and the key number for advertisers - were also well down during the series.

It seemed almost no-one was watching. This is in stark contrast to the early series which generated huge publicity and high viewing figures as viewers embraced the innovative format.

When Channel 4 renegotiated its contract for the programme three years ago, Big Brother was still hugely profitable. Apparently Big Brother generated £88m of revenue a year, of which about £68m was profit. That must have been the peak of viewing and profits for the format. Not a good time to negotiate a long-term contract. Channel 4 clearly overpaid for a product that had reached the profitable, maturity phase.

It would be interesting to chart the average viewing figures for Big Brother in the UK. I wouldn’t be surprised if they show the classic sales profile of the traditional product life cycle. That is despite the many attempts to revamp the programme format to stimulate viewer interest (extension strategies).