Ten weeks ago a baker’s dozen of bakers lined up, ovens pre-heated, ready to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry. Since then we have seen them produce pies, pastries, bread, biscuits, trifles and tarts. Not to mention stolen custard, soggy bottoms and squashed muffins.
This is of course the Great British Bake Off series four.
The final drew in a staggering 9.1 million viewers and provoked over 140,000 twitter mentions.
TV chef Raymond Blanc courted controversy after he appeared to reveal the winner of the competition two days before the final aired. This sparked much criticism and was picked up by some of the main news sites.
But who were the general public talking about and who did they think would win?
- Philosophy student Ruby often attracted the most media attention throughout the series and the final was no different. She had previously got in a Twitter row with a viewer criticising her baking skills. This, coupled with speculation over judge Paul Hollywood having a soft spot for her, saw mentions of Ruby top 20,000.
- Psychologist and all-round baker Kimberly was the early favorite, but a few botched bakes at critical times saw her just creep into the final. She was mentioned just shy of 9,000 times.
- Children’s clothes designer Francis had often produced visually stunning efforts only for them to lack the flavour required to wow the judges. Excelling when it mattered, her beautifully decorated wedding cake scored on both style and substance and saw her take home the crown. Perhaps she didn’t do enough to win over the public though with just less than 3,500 mentions during the final.
But why does all of this matter?
Well it’s a double whammy for our clients! Obviously it’s great for the BBC to get so much viewer engagement in a show. This is also good news for our client Dr Oetker, which has a sweet home baking range complementary to the programme. As well as baking related searches increasing, Dr Oetker saw an increase in website visits during the series, peaking in week six – sweet dough week!
For any questions please see the A&I team