Matt FarnhamStreaming minutes up 31%, Big Brother’s return just rewrote the rulebook for how audiences watch
As a kid I was never allowed to watch Big Brother, so this was a new experience for me, and I was fully locked in. Big Brother’s 2025 return became Network 10’s biggest streaming series ever, it reached 5.5 million viewers, delivered 449 million streaming minutes, averaged 881,000 nationally, and recorded a massive 125 percent lift on 2023¹. Its premiere alone pulled 1.12 million viewers¹.
At a network level, digital streaming usage jumped 31 percent year on year, helping drive a total reach of 24.7 million Australians across 2025². Growth was strongest among younger viewers (naturally), with Network 10 attracting audiences up to seven years younger than its competitors².
But the most interesting part for me, was not the ratings. It was the commentary around “the edit” and what an 24hour livestreaming or ‘always on’ does for media consumption.
Fans watching the 24 hour live stream quickly began calling out the differences between what they saw in real time and what appeared in the nightly edited episodes. Context shifted. Storylines changed. And audiences noticed immediately. Have we ever been more glued to our phones, or the constant return of the washer and dryer?
What can marketers learn from this?
🔧 Audiences will always compare your polished “highlight reel” with the raw truth
With Big Brother 2025, people could watch the livestream 24/7 and then tune in to the edited episode. When those two did not match, people noticed and called it out online³.
What to do: Give people access to honest, “behind-the-scenes” content. Don’t rely only on glossy ads or brand videos. Transparency builds trust.
🎯 Short, snackable moments are often more powerful than long-form storytelling
Big Brother’s record came not from long episodes but from viewers tuning in when they could — often in short bursts, often via streaming.
What to do: Build content around micro-moments. Design your campaigns for quick dips, shareable clips, and easy engagement — not just hour-long brand videos.
🤝 Engagement and community shape perception more than scripted messaging
With real-time livestreams, fan commentary, and social reactions, the “audience version” of the story became part of the show. The community helped write the story as much as the producers did.
What to do: Think of your audience as co-creators. Invite participation. Encourage feedback. Let them shape the narrative — because once you put content out there, people will interpret it anyway.
📈 Streaming-first content and younger demos are where growth is happening
Network 10 in 2025 drove massive gains especially among younger audiences (16-39 and 25-54). Streaming is not a side channel. It is the core of how younger people consume.
What to do: Centre your marketing strategy around digital, on-demand, and mobile-first content. If you treat streaming like an afterthought, you’ll miss the bulk of growth.
Why streaming-first should drive your 2026 content plan
Big Brother 2025 shows that modern audiences expect flexibility, authenticity, and participation. They do not just passively consume content. They watch, critique, remix, and react. As marketers, we can’t pretend they don’t.
If your brand still thinks in “campaigns” and “launches,” you might be missing the point. The future belongs to continuous engagement, realness, and community.
Matt Farnham is an award-winning senior marketing leader with more than a decade of experience in brand, communications and customer engagement. His work has focused on helping organisations build trust, strengthen customer relationships and drive sustainable growth, particularly in highly regulated industries. In 2024, he was named Future Leader of the Year at the Australian Marketing Institute Marketing Excellence Awards. He writes about brand strategy, marketing effectiveness and customer behaviour at mattfarnham.au.
¹ TV Blackbox, Big Brother powers Network 10 to explosive streaming surge, 1 December 2025
² Paramount Australia, TV’s youngest network entertains Australia in a year of growth and record-breaking streaming, 2025
