Bake Off is one of Channel 4's biggest programmes this year - but it's failing to emulate success of the BBC
The series finale pulled in less than half the number of viewers who tuned in for the BBC's last Bake Off episode
The 2019 Great British Bake Off final pulled in a whopping 6.9 million viewers, while the series overall proved the year's biggest programme for the coveted 16-34 viewing bracket — but the series still failed to emulate its BBC viewing figures and popularity.
The last Bake Off final on BBC One in 2016 averaged a massive 14 million viewers. That number dropped to 7.3 million live viewers in 2017 after the move to Channel 4, and 7.5 million last year when Rahul Mandal was crowned winner.
Research has also shown that this series has proved less popular on social media — of the 10 seasons so far, this year's offering was the fourth least discussed online, averaging just 50,804 tweets per episode, in comparison with over 200,000 tweets per episode three seasons ago when Candice won or the 138,730 tweets per episode when fan favourite Nadiya Hussain took the title in season 6.
According to Vanquis, the show was also the third least popular, with almost 30 per cent of tweets proving to be negative.
This year's series was won by underdog David Atherton, an international health advisor from Yorkshire who pipped fellow finalists Alice and Steph to the post, after frontrunner Steph (and four times Star Baker) had a truly terrible week and floundered at the last hurdle.