Family First senator Stephen Fielding over-eggs the pudding a bit in his anti-Big Brother op-ed tirade in this morning’s Herald Sun – “Get rid of this smut show” (not online) – but he also comes up with an interesting conspiracy theory:

Our community has an important role in ensuring
our children are brought up in a healthy and positive environment where
free-to-air TV complies with decent standards. Big Brother tried to boost its audience by
luring children to watch late-night versions of the show. It
cross-promotes the late-night, MA version in its PG-rated show to hook
in younger viewers.

Of course we already knew that Big Brother is strong with the youth demographic, but isn’t it a bridge too far to say they’re trying to lure in the kids?

Not according to Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan Research. According to her research, more than 20% of people 14-plus watch Big
Brother but the show’s greatest audience penetration is actually in the 10-13-year-old age group.

Levine says 39% of this group say they “especially choose to
watch Big Brother” and they are three times as likely to visit the Ten
website. That’s a remarkable level or market penetration for a
particularly impressionable demographic – and it also translates into
a high level of interest in the more “hardcore” online material.
Levine says:

The profile of Big Brother viewers –
especially those who “really love to
watch it” – is one of a group ripe to “turbo charge” the impact of its
presence in any medium. Big Brother
viewers are more likely to be on the internet anyway. 35% (v 31% in population) are on the internet more than once a day.

Those who “really love” Big Brother are more likely than the average
Australian to be online for a range of different purposes – not just work, education,
or transactions – but socialising and entertainment (64% v 44%), promotion and
publishing (9% v 5%), visiting websites (62% v 46%) and email (76% v 65%).

The picture emerges of a group who are
really engaged online. There is no
question this is the group who are crucial for online word-of-mouth campaigns.

The number of pre-teens watching the show online shifts the debate considerably. It’s one thing to argue that Big Brother
is suitable for free-to-air television on anti-censorship grounds;
quite another to claim that a generation of ten-year-olds will be well
served by learning about adult relationships via a TV nerdathon.