Hollyoaks has seen its streaming audience grow nearly 40% per episode, in the first quarter of this year.
Lime Pictures has released the viewing figures after Channel 4 announced its “data-led” move to 3 new episodes a week on streaming services, E4 and Youtube.
On YouTube full-length episodes had 5.8m minutes of watch-time, in the first quarter of this year, with 67% of of views coming from 13-34-year-olds.
That youth demographic means it’s also seem huge growth in Snapchat – up 350% and TikTok, up 116%.
While digital is the future of the soap, it’s also seen an increase in linear viewing share, up 7% on E4.
Last month, Hollyoaks had 194m+ views across all platforms – a 59% rise.
In total 1.1bn minutes were watched across linear and steaming in Q1.
“The blockbuster year we promised has gotten off to a flying start; with bold and daring storylines sparking debate and helping to drive an impressive increase in young viewers, who have really connected with the current and relatable issues we’re exploring, especially across social and streaming,” said Ben Wadey, Channel 4 Commissioning Executive for Hollyoaks.
“We have so much more to come, and viewers will be gripped throughout the summer and as we approach the much-anticipated Autumn stunt, that will throw us forward, both in time and into an exciting, addictive and fresh new era of Hollyoaks. We are of course mindful of the impact these changes are having on the Hollyoaks team and we aim to honour our amazing characters, whilst ensuring we remain the most relevant and loved soap among young audiences as we approach our 30th anniversary in 2025 and well beyond.”
This year’s storylines, under the stewardship of new Executive Producer, Hannah Cheers, kicked off with an hour-long special in January, which achieved the highest total watch time on YouTube since the launch of full episodes on the platform, with 72% of views coming from under 35-year-olds.
On streaming it was the biggest Hollyoaks episode since 2020 and was up 62% (0-7 days O&O) versus the prior four-week average.
