Love Island takes a big hit in the ratings as the ratings for the latest grand finale are down by over two MILLION compared to last year – with just 1.5 million viewers to see Jess and Sammy crowned winners
The latest viewing figures for ITV2 flagship Love Island made for grim reading on Tuesday after the combined viewing figures fell more than two million short of the impressive figures set during the 2022 grand final.
Fans of the beleaguered show had already expressed their displeasure after Jess Harding and unpopular late arrival Sammy Root were crowned winners, ahead of clear favorites Lochan Nowacki and Whitney Adebayo.
But numbers suggest that interest in the show, which airs nightly and at its peak drew more than two million viewers per episode, has dropped dramatically following its 2015 relaunch.
Only 1.5 million people watched Jess and Sammy win Monday night’s final, a marginal increase from the 1.1 million who watched Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan win their second winter series in March.
But the latest figures represent an alarming change in fortunes and a marked departure from 12 months ago when an impressive 3.4 million viewers watched Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti win their eighth series on ITV2 and ITV Hub.
Not good: The latest ratings for Love Island made for grim reading on Tuesday after the combined viewing figures fell more than two million from the numbers set during the 2022 grand finale
Increase: The Love Island 2022 final was watched by 3.4 million viewers on ITV2 and ITV Hub, 100,000 more than in 2021
On that occasion, ratings suggested a 100,000 ratings increase and made it the most successful final since 2019, when Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea claimed the winner’s crown.
However, it was a significant drop from the opening episode of the 2022 series, which saw a whopping five million viewers tune in.
Despite a dip over the course of two months, the eighth series broke streaming records, with over 250 million streams in the series – making it the most watched series ever on ITV Hub.
An ITV2 spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Love Island came to an end last night with 1.5 million viewers across all devices. It was in the series 9 finale shown earlier in the year by +0.2 million viewers.
“It had 0.5 million 16-34 TV viewers, an increase of +0.2 million viewers from the final earlier this year. It was yesterday the most watched program for 16-34 s on any channel.
“For 16-34s, Love Island has won the 9 p.m. nighttime slot 45 times. That’s over 90% of the episodes, excluding Unseen Bits.
“Love Island has had over 300 million streams on ITVX so far this year (based on streams to all Love Island series).”