It appears The Bachelor’s Nick “Honey Badger” Cummins isn’t just resident eye-candy for female viewers of the show, but new stats show he’s proving a big drawcard for Aussie men, too.
Data released by Ten shows this year’s series is up 76,000 viewers on last year and that’s all due to an increase in blokes tuning-in.
Cummins – of course – is an ex-international rugby star and played 15 games for the Wallabies. He’s also renowned for his very Aussie sense of humour and larrikin ways which have undoubtedly proven a hit with male fans.
According to Ten’s stats, of the 76,000 new viewers to this year’s series some 75,0000 of those are men. Thirty-six per cent of the show’s viewers are now fellas.
Having said that, The Bachelor – with its bevy of beauties – has always had a significant male following considering it’s a dating show.
Again, according to Ten’s data, the debut series in 2013 had 30 per cent male viewership. It was 28 per cent in 2014, 29 per cent in 2015, 30 per cent in 2016 and 30 per cent again last year.
Sophie Monk’s appearance as last year’s The Bachelorette also proved popular with male viewers, however, even she hasn’t been the drawcard that the ‘Honey Badger’ has attracting males to the show.
What Monk did do, however, was prove the worth of humour and not taking the whole thing too seriously. So expect Ten to play the larrikin card when choosing further Bachelors and Bachelorettes for future series.
Commenting on this year’s series’ success, Network Ten’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey said: “Australians enjoy a good love story. Since its launch six years ago, The Bachelor Australia has continued to get bigger and bigger. Off the back of its success, we’ve launched The Bachelorette Australia and Bachelor in Paradise Australia, both of which have become popular brands in their own right.
“These shows continue to bring people together for a shared viewing experience, dominate social conversations and offer great chat between friends and work colleagues. They’ve all also been a spectacular success for us in driving audiences across all platforms – social, digital, catch-up as well as live TV viewing. This year, we’re enjoying following Nick Cummins’ journey to find love and look forward to finding out if Ali (The Bachelorette Australia) can make it third time lucky and get her own happy ending.”
