Who's watching Big Brother? No one
By Katherine Field
THIS year's new-look Big Brother appears unlikely to return the TV show to its glory days, with the launch ratings the worst in its history.
An average of 1.511 million tuned in last night to watch Big Brother's new hosts, radio broadcasters Kyle and Jackie O, reveal the first 14 housemates during a two-hour launch.
The audience for the Channel 10 show peaked at 1.91 million.
But while it beat its competitors in most timeslots - except its second half hour when it lost out to Border Security - Big Brother's latest launch was the least-watched in the show's eight-year history.
The previous lowest ratings for a Big Brother launch were last year, when the first show pulled in 1.548 million viewers.
The show's most watched launch was in 2003, when it attracted 2.225 million viewers.
Last night, in its third half hour, Big Brother also lost some of its audience to the ABC's Australian Story feature on the late Ten newsreader Charmaine Dragun.
The story of the newsreader's battle with depression drew more than 1.1 million viewers to the ABC.
Despite the ratings, Ten said it was "thrilled" with Big Brother because the show had launched on a Monday, not on a Sunday as in the past four years.
"We're thrilled to be pulling those numbers on a Monday and against stiff competition," a Ten spokeswoman said.
Viewers have gradually tuned out of the show since it began in 2001.
In a bid to halt its decline, Big Brother's producers have this year promised a different program.
Some of the changes include: housemates being forced to spend the first night in the backyard and the eviction of one housemate by sunrise, in the first of many "snap" evictions.
For the first time contestants will be accommodated in a far from luxurious house, with no rewards room and a tiny pool.
This year's series will also see housemates sleep in one giant bed and there will be no kitchen, with food to be served on a conveyor belt.
The contestants include a 1m tall belly dancer, a 52-year-old grandmother and a self-declared virgin man with a high-pitched voice.
Three more contestants will be revealed on Sunday, while party punk Corey Worthington will later feature as an intruder.
Average national audience for Big Brother launches since 2001
2001 - 1.627 million
2002 - 2.046 million
2003 - 2.225 million
2004 - 1.725 million
2005 - 1.576 million
2006 - 1.8 million
2007 - 1.548 million
2008 - 1.511 million
