281,000 on average tuned in to SBS6 fireplace broadcast

SBS6 was popular on Christmas Day with a crackling fire broadcast for four hours in the evening. On average, 281,000 people watched the image, landing the program in the top 25 of most-watched broadcasts, the Stichting Kijkonderzoek (SKO) reported on Sunday.

In total, 1.7 million people watched the fire for at least one minute during the four hours. The viewing peak was around 8:30 p.m. when nearly 400,00 people played the fire in the background. SKO suspected that this peak arose because many people had finished eating and wanted to catch a glimpse out of curiosity.

With an average of 281,00 viewers, SBS6 had better business than Christmas 2020. The fireplace then received competition from the Disney film Frozen broadcast at 8:30 p.m. An average of 242,000 people watched Frozen.

The hashtag 'fireplace' trended all evening on social media, with opinions being divided. Some people on Twitter thought broadcasting a fire was nonsense, while others thought it was a nice idea. Many people were annoyed that the SBS6 logo was visible the entire time.

24 Kitchen broadcast non-stop images of a simmering pan of ragout on its YouTube channel from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The station is responding to a joke by the satirical website De Speld which suggested the pan to poke fun at the SBS6 fire. In some instances, the ragout pan can also be seen on the T.V. channel of 24 Kitchen.