No more soggy bottoms, eye-popping innuendos or baked Alaska dramas for the UK’s millions of Bake Off fans from now on. Here at JAM we’re lamenting the loss of one of our favourite shows along with all the other cake-lovers taking to social media to express their sadness.
After seven wonderful series of kneading, drizzling and stiff peaks, the Great British Bake Off has reached the end of its life with the BBC and will cease to exist as we know it. Channel 4 has snapped up this family favourite and intends to make it their own, but to those of us who’ve loved the show since it first emerged golden brown and delicious from the BBC, this isn’t much of a consolation.
Channel 4 has just bought a tent
The announcement that the show was leaving the BBC for Channel 4 was shocking enough, but then came the news that judge Mary Berry and much-loved, pun-tastic presenters Mel and Sue would not be going with it.
Social media, and Twitter in particular, was suddenly flooded with anguish, sadness and outrage at this heart-breaking news, with @GBBO mentions exploding moments after the news was announced.
Fans of the show have always enjoyed tweeting and sharing along with each and every episode, a trend that the show capitalised on with the release of their new tent emoji. It comes as no surprise then, that the same fans immediately took to social media to share their reactions to the biggest event in the show’s history since #BinGate.
After the news of Mary, Mel and Sue’s departure hit home, the consensus among fans on social media was that Channel 4 have basically spent £25 million on a tent, some flour and Paul Hollywood (aka ‘Judas’, the name many angry fans assigned to the one remaining judge). Another fan likened the channel hop to her local bookshop turning into a Subway, and many others joked that eggs, flour and sugar are also threatening to leave the show.
Social TV
It’s not just GBBO that’s seen huge levels of social media interaction; the way we watch television in general has been completely transformed by these platforms as we tweet, share and interact with our favourite shows. Some show producers now consider the level of social media interaction to be more important and a better indicator of success than regular TV ratings, and are investing more and more in the social elements of the shows.
With gigantic social media communities forming and growing around TV shows all the time, fans are now able to have an active influence on formats, themes and storylines, and producers are able to constantly improve shows as a result.
We can’t predict how social media will react to Channel 4’s version of GBBO, but we can guarantee it’ll be a huge talking point. As for the rumours of the BBC making their own rival show, if this turns out to be true there could be one hell of a social media battle on our hands between the two shows. Doesn’t that just make it so much more interesting?!
Here at JAM, we’re always looking for ways to involve our clients in the best trending conversations on social media. If you’re looking for more information on how to take advantage of this ready-made audience, give us a call on 0161 850 9595 or email Jaime at Jaime@jampr.co.uk
