BARB (Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board) have added the UK viewing figures for 22-28 December 2025 to their website (here).

The list is the top 50 and, for anyone that hasn’t used BARB before, if the “period” doesn’t show the dates that you want to see, you will have to use the down arrow to display the calendar (to change the timeframe). Why this is not always visible is a mystery to me.

Normally the weekly chart is completely dominated by soaps and Strictly, as younger viewers have moved over to watching more on streaming services.

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2025 was shown on Boxing Day and was 32^nd in this Christmas week list – with 3,549,300 viewers. 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown didn’t make the 50.

Pre Jan 2024 data is no longer downloadable and the past couple of days have seen lots of press discussing how this year’s overall viewing figures are the lowest ever.

In December 2024 Gavin and Stacey got 19m and Wallace and Gromit 17m. Fast-forward to the same week in 2025 and the top shows were Amandaland with 7m and The Scarecrow’s Wedding with 6.6m.

That’s one heck of a fall off in just 12 months and actually makes the BFQ figures look pretty good. C4 (in 2025) only had 1 show listed higher – Bake Off with 5.1m viewers.

• BFQ 2025 – 3,549,300 (32^nd)
• BFQ 2024 – 3,690,800 (34^th)

I would say steady figures like this (under challenging conditions) are a good indicator as to why the channel recommissions the show every year.

Reports such as this one show that, in 2024, C4 grew its streaming performance by 13% and YouTube by 26% and it looks like it’s in a healthier financial position than it was a year or two prior. Their own June 2024 press release declared C4 to be the only UK major broadcaster to have grown overall viewers across both streaming and linear.

For anyone interested in seeing trend charts for UK viewing habits – see this Dec 2024 OFCOM report.

Update 2026-02-20: Updated post with details from Comedy.co.uk, showing higher views and declaring BFQ the 10th most watched comedy show of 2025. Here.