Record for ITV2 as Love Island attracts 4.1MN for final peak

Record for ITV2 as Love Island attracts 4.1MN for final peak
Joseph O'Halloran
| 31 July 2018


Like it or loathe it, it can’t be denied that Love Island was the most-talked about programme of the summer in the UK and series 4 signed off on a high on 30 July with a record-breaking 3.6 million viewers tuning in for the final.
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The audiences gained for the 2018 final of the programme — an original ITV Studios Entertainment format, co-produced with Motion Content Group — were the largest audience ever for ITV2, the lifestyle channel for the UK’s leading commercial broadcaster. Moreover, it was a million viewers up on last year’s final, up by 2.2 million viewers on the series 2 final and up by 2.8 million on the final of the first ITV2 series.

In addition, Love Island was the most watched programme in its slot across all channels at transmission time of 21:00 on 30 July and the most watched programme for 16-34s, with 1.6 million 16-34 viewers. Continuing a wonderful month for ITV’s online and on-demand service which drew huge traffic during the World Cup, the final boasted a further 1.9 million simulcast request on the ITV Hub.

Love Island Series 4 has broken records across the series - averaging 2.7 million viewers in the overnight TV ratings (up a million viewers year-on-year) and is currently averaging four million viewers in terms of consolidated TV ratings, up by 1.5 million viewers on Series 3. The series average has risen to five million viewers per episode, when counting consolidated TV ratings and viewing via ITV Hub.

The overall figures place Love Island as the most-watched programme on a digital channel ever amongst 16-34s, and has attracted the biggest 16-34 audiences on TV this year, outside of World Cup matches. ITV2 claims that it has been the third biggest channel for 16-34s across June and July ahead of Channel 4, E4, Channel 5 and BBC2. The channel has had its four biggest days ever in terms of 16-34 share across Love Island's run, with 30 July recording ITV2's biggest ever day in terms of 16-34 share, with a 17.8% share of 16-34 viewing across the day.

Commenting on the ratings smash, Paul Mortimer, ITV’s head of digital channels and acquisitions said: “Love Island was once again the must-see show of the summer. At ITV2, we were thrilled with the level of younger viewer engagement to the extent that it broke all our previous audience records and is now firmly established as the biggest ever series in the multi-channel space. The main show, The Hot List and Aftersun have all helped propel ITV2 towards what will undoubtedly be its most successful year so far.”