Love Island 2024 launches with highest ratings in two years

According to Variety, last year’s Summer series drew in 1.3 million people, which was just above half the audience that had tuned in for the 2022 summer launch show.

Earlier this year, Love Island fans welcomed new spin-off Love Island: All Stars onto their screens, airing instead of the usual Winter series. ITV later released the rating figures for February’s grand final as 1.3 million.

Last night, some viewers reported problems with streaming the Love Island launch show on ITVX, with some unable to watch the 90-minute episode until after the first commercial break. It’s unknown if this had any effect on the total ratings figure.

Related: Love Island’s ratings dip doesn’t accurately reflect the series

2024’s launch show marked an episodes of firsts last night with host Maya Jama introducing two huge twists.

After entering the villa, Jama asked the boys and girls to rank each other on a scale of most to least-likely to be relationship material.

Following their choices, Jama revealed the coupling up twist, that the girls and boys will partner with the person placed in the same position as them on the scale.

Later on in the same episode, viewers saw Love Island unveil their first ever celebrity bombshell in the form of Joey Essex. The former The Only Way Is Essex star entered the villa calling himself “the King of Essex” who wants to find his “Queen”.

As of last night’s episodes the current couples are Mimii & Munveer, Nicole & Sean, Jess & Ronnie, Patsy & Ayo, Samantha & Sam and Harriett & Ciaran.

Love Island airs on weeknights on ITV2 and streams on ITVX.

Deputy News Editor, Digital Spy 

Emily is an experienced entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV, film, soaps and showbiz. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow. She joined Digital Spy as Acting Deputy News Editor in May 2023, and became Deputy News Editor the following year.
A small and big-screen obsessive – with subscriptions to every TV and film service under the sun – Emily knows her movie stars from soap stars, and is always clued up on the latest reality show dumping, just-dropped trailer or off-screen spat. She’s interviewed a number of celebrities over the years, with highlights including The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett and GMB‘s Kate Garraway (who “loved” her trousers).
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