This week has been a big week in the news.
And no we’re not talking about the election of a UKIP MP. We’re talking about the final of the 2014 Great British Bake Off. Obviously.
With a 50% increase on last year’s ratings, The Telegraph reported this week that more people tuned in to watch Nancy take the title than watched the final of the World Cup. And with countless ’10 things you didn’t know about Mary Berry’ articles acting as clickbait in newspaper website sidebars, baking puns and innuendos littering Twitter like so many hundreds and thousands, not to mention the ongoing furore of the #bingate scandal, it’s fair to say that the programme has really captured the mood of the nation.
As the Metro’s Keith Watson put it, ‘with the world going to pot all around, it’s nice to forget it all and care, really care, about cakes’.
So, you’ve got audience attention. Over 12 million peoples’ worth, in this case. Now what? Bake Off has a fantastically well-run Twitter feed, for one. Packed full of exactly the sort of content people love in the show, it makes use of short video clips (always excellent social media fodder), witty picture captions and yes, yet more innuendo. It also has 230K followers to boot, and tweeting presenters joining in the conversations with fans.
The biggest strength of the Bake Of brand by far, though, is its ability to capitalise on a moment that has really sparked discussion or captured the attention of its viewers. Be that Nancy’s ‘revelation’ on why she really called Paul ‘the male judge’, or THAT baked alaska disaster, or even the Extra Slice show itself, this year has really been the year that Bake Off has become more of a comforting, gingham covered cult than a TV programme.
And the upshot of that? Not only is it firmly ensconced (not en-scone-d) in the heart of the nation, but you can bet your soggy bottom the viewer figures will be even higher next year.
See you in the tent.
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