Who is watching Big Brother?

More than 5 million viewers watched during the fifth week

Big Brother, Channel 4's reality TV show, is attracting a wealthier audience than ever before, according to the broadcaster.

But a media agency has said that the audience for the show is actually going "down market".

The third series of Big Brother has increased by 5% its audience of ABC1 adults, considered to be the richest and most advertiser-friendly, Channel 4 said.

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An average of two million viewers in that category are watching each show compared to 1.9 million during 2001, it says.

But media agency MPG has told the Media Guardian website that the proportion of AB adults watching the show has fallen from 16% in 2001 to 14% this year.

Same number

MPG reports the proportion of under-35s watching has also decreased, a claim contradicted by Channel 4's own figures.

The network reported that in terms of 16 to 34-year-olds, Big Brother is attracting the same number as last year - an average of 2.2 million viewers per show.

Despite the contrary evidence, one thing that is clear is that the overall ratings for the programme are up on last year.

In terms of audience share, this year a higher percentage are watching Big Brother than last year - 44% compared to 40% during 2001.

The average audience for the fifth week of the series was 5.2 million viewers, a 26% share of the available audience.

Sister channel

The figures are up 14% on the same period last year, which attracted 4.6 million viewers.

The audience for Big Brother programming on E4, Channel 4's sister digital channel, has also changed since last year.

According to the broadcaster, E4 viewers are younger and wealthier than in previous years.

The average number of people aged between 16 and 34 watching E4 during Big Brother is up 137% on last year and the average ABC1 audience is up 98% from 43,000 last year to 85,000 this year.