The Only Way Is Essex recently aired the finale of their 34th season, but the ‘wild’ ratings have people questioning how long it will stay on TV.
It wasn’t always this way – landing onto the small screens in 2010, the reality show instantly became a hit.
The unscripted structured format allowed us to watch real people put into set-up situations. Amy Childs, Lauren Goodger, Mark Wright, Lydia Bright and James Argent’s private lives became public and drama quickly ensued, along with brand new lexicon including reem, vajazzle, and salty potato.
A passionate fandom made the cast millionaires, lapping up their endorsed beauty products, clothing ranges, and anything else they could put their name to. They even travelled from around the county to Brentwood to meet these ‘ordinary’ stars, and voted for them to win a Bafta.
At its peak in 2011, 1.7 million viewers were tuning in to see the drama unfold. However, as the latest series came to an end on Sunday evening, only 48,000 watched the action.
Not even a love triangle between Amy’s cousin Harry Debridge, his former partner Joe Blackman and friend-turned-enemy Junaid Ahmed, could restore the series back to the glory days.
Despite the low numbers, reported by Daily Mail, the series has already been confirmed for a Christmas special. It is also claimed that there are talks for a 2025 series.
When X account SuperTV247 celebrated Big Brother’s latest figures, while comparing to Towie, chatter began to ensue about how the show can continue.
‘RATINGS! #BBUK continued with over 640k viewers last night, the highest Sunday since launch night making it the third consecutive week of growth! It was against the #TOWIE series finale at 9pm which attracted 48k viewers..,’ they wrote.
‘The thing I don’t get is how shows like TOWIE can keep going for 15 years with abysmal ratings like that but Big Brother steadily averaging 1M+ means it’s potentially facing the axe…,’ Daniel responded. To clarify, ITV have not said that Big Brother is going to be cut from their schedule, so nobody needs to fear.
Fan account ItsBBPlus added: ‘How is TOWIE still on TV with figures like that??? Watch them renew TOWIE but not Big Brother.’
’48k?! Wild! I haven’t seen numbers for TOWIE for years, but it was at least 500k,’ remarked Josh.
Han was one of the many people who asked: ‘How is TOWIE still going for real?’
The decision-making process to grant TV shows’ extra episodes is a complicated one. A variety of factors will be considered by bosses before announcing the future of anything on their rosta…
Changing viewing habits
Our TV viewing habits have changed considerably – people tend to watch less linear, and more streaming services – so while live figures are taken into account, they are not everything. ITV have shared that Towie has considerably higher figures on ITVX – a total of 8.5 million streams so far, which is a much healthier number than the overnights.
To reflect the changing landscape, the long-running programme airs at 9pm on Sunday nights over on ITV2, but it is made available from the early hours so viewers can decide exactly when they want to catch up with the gang. Putting the power into viewers’ hands also means there are naturally going to be less bums on sofas at the official air time.
Also intrestingly, the show’s Instagram account has a healthy 628k followers and high engagement on their posts, which include online exclusives.
Whole lotta history
Towie has become synomous with the ITV brand with 14 years under its belt, so the longevity may also be part of the thought process when picking what stays and what goes.
Broadcasters sometimes like to keep their legacy programmes around, and may be less inclined to put them on the chopping block.
Money, money, money
The budget can also be a factor, and reality shows are often much cheaper to make when compared to scripted dramas.
The Towie stars are said to make around £450 per episode, whereas a sought-after actor is likely to get much more.
Reality star launchpad
The series creates a pool of on-screen talent that is utilised on other ITV shows, and beyond.
Dan Edgar has recently been announced as a Dancing On Ice competitor, and Love Island’s most recent series was stirred up by the signing of Joey Essex.
So it may be that the only way really is up, and Series 35 could be in the near future…
Metro.co.uk has reached out to ITV for comment.
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