Love Island 2023 final watched by less than half of last year's audience

Love Island's 2023 edition was won by Jess and Sammy but less than half of the audience of last year's final tuned in to watch them be crowned champions.

Though considered a shock win after favourites Whitney and Lochan finished runners up, the reality show's viewing figures are down dramatically on last year's edition which was won by Ekin-Su and Davide.

Read more: Love Island launch sees viewers drop: How ratings have changed since 2015

Just 1.5 million people watched Love Island's final episode while 3.4 million tuned in for last year's summer finale.

Some good news for ITV is that the ratings are an increase over the winter version of the reality show by 200,000 viewers.

It was the least watched Love Island final since the first season in 2016 which brought in just over one million viewers and was hosted by the late Caroline Flack.

Since then, Love Island has surged in popularity and become the most watched show on ITV2 with more than three million people regularly tuning in to watch the series.

Ratings for the show have been down this year but it was still the most watched show on TV for the 16-34 age demographic.

ITV said: "For 16-34s, Love Island has won the overnight 9pm slot 45 times. That’s over 90% of episodes, excluding Unseen Bits."

The broadcaster also claimed that Love Island has been streamed over 300 million times on ITVX this year but that includes all seasons of the show.

Since its peak in popularity, Love Island has suffered a number of controversies and an increase in competitors such as the BBC's I Kissed a Boy, the first ever gay dating show.

The show has also been criticised for not looking after the mental welfare of its contestants with three people involved in the show committing suicide in the span of 20 months – including host Flack.

Love Island is currently available to stream on ITVX.

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