GB News ridiculed over viewing figures of historic New Year's Eve fireworks
GB News' exact viewing figures have been revealed – and they're not what was initially reported.
The network, which launched in June 2021, prides itself on being the only free-to-air opinion-orientated network and often causes controversy with opinions and debates. Since its launch, the station has attracted millions of viewers and was once claimed to be one of the nation's "most-loved" news brands.
Earlier this month, it was claimed that over 1 million people had tuned in for the annual New Year's Eve firework displays, marking a milestone for the company founded by Andrew Cole and Mark Scheider. But the exact figures have now been released and they are massively underwhelming.
The station only attracted 33,000 viewers (PA)Official figures released by broadcasting data body Barb now reveal that just a mere 33,000 people tuned into the network. A spokesperson for Barb stated that a mistake had been made in regard to the initial figures and added that the 1 million viewers should have been attributed to BBC One as well as other channels.
A spokesperson told Press Gazette: "The New Year’s Eve Fireworks were broadcast across several channels with very similar audio feeds. Barb’s ability to report which channel is being viewed relies partly on matching the audio output from TV sets to a channel. In this instance, our audio-matching process has incorrectly attributed some viewing of the New Year’s Eve Fireworks to GB News that should have been attributed to BBC One and other channels.
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"We are investigating the issue and will issue amended viewing data as soon as possible." People have since taken to social media to share their views, with one writing: "GB News New Years Eve Fireworks coverage, where they claimed to have peaked at over 1 million viewers, in actual fact averaged just 33k and peaked at 74k - just 7.4% of the original number claimed. Thoughts and prayers to all at GBN at this difficult time."
"Sending thoughts and prayers to GB News," said another. The fireworks coverage on GB News was aired live on the network by Andrew Doyle, which included a countdown to the annual display between 12am and 12.13am. Andre often appears on the station presenting its daily Headliners newspaper reviews.
In comparison, the BBC coverage of the fireworks in London was watched by 11 million people, while Sky News had a peak coverage of over 620,000 at midnight, as well as 1.2 million between 10pm and 1am.
GB News declined to comment.
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