The grand finale of Love Island drew in the programme’s highest number of viewers since 2019, marking a positive omen for the future of the hit show.
During the 90-minute final on Monday (1 August), the show had a peak of 3.4 million people tuning in to watch Ekin-Su and Davide become season eight’s champions.
The pair beat Gemma and Luca, Indiyah and Dami and Tasha and Andrew to the top spot.
Addressing the public for the first time in a video shared on the ITV2 series’ official Twitter page, Ekin-Su said: “Thank you, everyone, for voting for us and thank you for making us who we are.”
The final episode had an average of 3 million viewers, while the season marked another three-year-high by receiving an average viewership of 2.7 million viewers across its eight-week run.
According to ITV, Love Island is also responsible for a record 250 million views on ITV Hub, the channel's on-demand service.
The show will return in 2023 for two new seasons – one at the start of the year, followed by a run in the traditional summer slot.
While high viewing figures indicate a positive future for Love Island, launches a new season of Big Brother next year.
The show’s return was announced in an ad break during the Love Island final. Previous series have aired on Channel and Channel 5.
Love Island is available to stream on BritBox.
