Normal People, strange times

By Henry Taylor, Executive

On the 29^th of December 1996, an audience of over 24 million viewers – almost half the UK population at the time – watched as BBC One broadcast a Christmas special of the sitcom Only Fools And Horses. Aside from occasions like Royal Weddings and major sporting events, this remains the most viewed single broadcast in UK television history, over 23 years later.

Over the last two decades, an explosion in the number of channels and the more recent growth of YouTube and streaming platforms like Netflix has fragmented viewership, dispersing audiences across a wider range of more niche content that caters better to individual tastes. In doing so, the shared collective cultural experience of certain TV shows has largely been lost.

However, some shows continue to generate remarkable mass appeal even in this fragmented media climate. BBC Three’s new drama Normal People is just one example. A beautifully honest story of young love, the show has seen huge viewership, smashing BBC iPlayer’s streaming record with over 16 million views in the first week of release.

Netflix’s bizarre documentary Tiger King is another show that has captured the mass consciousness of the nation, providing a dose of the surreal at a time when so many of us are confined at home in the day-to-day mundanity of the national lockdown. Netflix says that, worldwide, over 34 million people watched the show in the ten days after its release.

Underlying these statistics is a temporary but dramatic change in TV viewership driven by the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Without our typical commutes, many of us now have time to actually watch shows that would otherwise warrant a typical ‘I’ll get round to it’. TV viewership is up across the board. Normal People and Tiger King, released just as lockdowns began, have been key beneficiaries of this shift.

There have also been changes in how people are watching TV. Viewership among teenagers – a group that has drifted away from TV in recent years – has taken a particular jump, suggesting an increase in families watching together. Meanwhile, the appealing flexibility and choice offered by streaming platforms has resulted in swathes of sign-ups – Netflix says its subscriber count has doubled in the last three months alone.

However, the longer-term picture for broadcast media looks far more precarious. With advertising revenues down and upcoming shows halting production, it may be a while before the next Normal People arrives on our screens. Until then, it’s time to get binge watching.