Comedy Central’s brand new Roast Battle UK series, which launched on the 15th January and aired consecutive episodes across the week, has smashed all previous ratings records, becoming Comedy Central’s highest-rated UK commission in its history.

The series, consisting of six stand-alone episodes, peaked with 375k 16-34s and 569k Adults 16+ for a single episode. Overall, the series was up +317% for Adults 000s and up +367% for 16-34s 000s vs. slot average, ensuring that Comedy Central is ranked first in the slot for 16-34s in all CABSAT homes.

Hosted by Jimmy Carr, with Russell Brand and Katherine Ryan making up the judging panel, Roast Battle also achieved an impressive social media presence, boosting Comedy Central’s total reach on Twitter by 374% month on month, with conversation about Roast Battle reaching a potential audience of 77m. 

While there was no overall winner, the series featured showdowns between Joel Dommett and Iain Stirling, Elliot Steel and Mark Steel, Joe Lycett and Nick Helm, Alex Brooker and Matt Forde, Desiree Burch and Daniel Sloss, Dane Baptiste and Tez Ilyas, Ed Gamble and Phil Wang, Harriet Kemsley and Bobby Mair, Sofie Hagen and Larry Dean, Fin Taylor and Paul Chowdhry, Alex Edelman and Jayde Adams and Tom Allen and Suzi Ruffell.

Louise Holmes, Vice President, Programming, Comedy Central UK commented “This achievement is testament to the success of the show’s no holds barred format which packs a comedy punch and lets comedians use their razor sharp wit to take down their opponent. Viewers have relished the comedy arena setting that Roast Battle provides - evident in the response across both linear and digital platforms. 

Roast Battle UK underlines Comedy Central UK’s ongoing push to diversify its British comedy offering and increase the volume of non-scripted comedy it broadcasts all of which has helped to drive the channel to its current position of the #3 entertainment channel.