The return of Survivor to UK screens over the weekend was a steady one, with the show equalling Big Brother‘s first ep from earlier this month.
BBC One’s reboot of the CBS smash peaked with 4M and secured a 2.5M average on Saturday at 8.25 p.m. GMT (12.25 p.m. PT) as contestants were introduced, split into teams and took on the first set of challenges. The launch was well shy of the highest-rated show of the day, stalwart entertainment hit Strictly Come Dancing, which waltzed to 7.7M viewers on BBC One.
The following night, Banijay’s Joel Dommett-hosted show held steady with 2.3M from 8 p.m. to 9.pm. For Survivor, the BBC is experimenting with a scheduling pattern inspired by The Traitors by airing episodes on Saturday and Sunday nights but also releasing the Sunday episode on the morning on BBC iPlayer. Last year’s smash hit The Traitors was praised for its creation of ‘watercooler’ moments while simultaneously allowing viewers to binge on iPlayer.
Survivor’s Saturday rating was equal to that of the Big Brother launch three weeks prior, although ITV has stressed that there was a big uptick in viewing on VoD platform ITVX. Since then, the nightly Big Brother eps have aired on portfolio channel ITV 2, hovering just below the 1M viewer mark on average. Last night’s was watched by 800,000, around one third of the Survivor audience albeit on a smaller channel. On Friday, ITV announced that all Big Brother evictions on Friday nights will now air ITV main channel as well as ITV 2 and ITVX.
Survivor was last on TV in the UK 20 years ago, when it aired on ITV but was canceled after just two seasons. Since then, Big Brother has aired on three different networks and is currently playing nightly on ITV 2.
Meanwhile, BBC One’s Time prison drama returned for a second season on Sunday night helmed by Last of Us star Bella Ramsey to 2.2M viewers.
