A boss at ITV has said the broadcaster was encouraged to reboot Big Brother after the "extraordinary success" of Love Island. Earlier this month, ITV announced it would revive the influential show, which aired in the UK for 18 years until 2018.
Addressing ITV's reason for doing so at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the broadcaster's managing director of media and entertainment, Kevin Lygo, described it as the programme that "shaped the most television" after gaining widespread popularity. He said the launch of upcoming streaming platform ITVX was also a reason for Big Brother's return, alongside the dominance of Love Island in the summer's TV schedule.
Mr Lygo said: "We look at Love Island and we see this extraordinary successful show that defies all the sort of current logic and goes against what people say in that 'young people don't watch (linear) television'. And then you think every single night at nine o’clock on ITV2 and on the Hub is this show for eight weeks that more young people watch than they watch anything else.
"And we should all take great joy in the fact that if you get the right show, they're going to come and watch it." He said he does not think Big Brother's audience will skew as young because he feels many former viewers will return as they "remember it so fondly".
Mr Lygo described its legacy as this "extraordinary thing" that arguably "shaped the most television" and does not worry about its revival being a risk for the broadcaster. The latest series of Love Island was a ratings success, securing its biggest launch episode since 2019.
ITV also recently announced there will be two series of the show in 2023 – a summer series in Majorca and winter series in South Africa. Big Brother will return on ITV2 next year.
