I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! isn’t just having a good season; it’s reaffirming why, more than a decade in, the format still works commercially, culturally, and cross-platform.
The Network 10 franchise is delivering its biggest total national audience since 2021, averaging 1.02 million viewers across broadcast and streaming, up 10% year-on-year, while its streaming audience has surged 106%.
To date, the series has reached 4.8 million Australians, achieving its strongest-ever streaming performance on Paramount+.
Behind the numbers is a production machine that never really stops – and a casting strategy that’s already shaping next year’s campfire conversations.
As Tamara Simoneau, VP Content at Paramount Australia New Zealand, told Mediaweek: “The key is in the casting.”
Tamara Simoneau.
The guessing game never ends
At its core, I’m A Celebrity trades on curiosity, and Simoneau says that starts well before the first episode airs.
“First of all, it’s a guessing game, and everybody loves a guessing game. The next step is the casting,” she said.
That process doesn’t wait for the current season’s finale, either.
“We’ll start talking about next year’s cast while the show’s still on,” she revealed, adding they “have to nail the combination” to ensure there’s “something” or, rather, someone, for everyone.
It’s a strategy designed for immediate reach and long-tail engagement. Familiar faces pull audiences in early; unexpected ones keep them watching. “The people who they [audiences] don’t recognise are intriguing and interesting enough for them to really want to keep watching,” Simoneau said.
The result is a format that feels broad without feeling blunt, and that balance matters more than ever in a fragmented viewing market.
Cross-generational, by design
One of the show’s quiet strengths is its deliberate span across age groups.
“We have cast members in their early 20s and early 70s in the camp, and everybody in between,” Simoneau said.
That cross-generational pull translates directly into commercial value. Seven-day viewing saw the show top both 25–54s and 16–39s – rare territory for any long-running reality franchise.
It also fuels conversation beyond the screen. “Our WhatsApp chat lights up. When somebody has a pop in a social media moment or a mainstream media moment, then they’ll light up the chat and go, ‘it’s this person from the jungle next year,” Simoneau said.
I’m A Celebrity hosts Robert Irwin and Julia Morris.
The great equaliser effect
While casting brings viewers in, it’s the experience itself that keeps them.
Despite the format’s extremity, I’m A Celebrity has become known within the industry as a transformational experience – a reputation that continues to attract talent.
“It’s known as a show that changes your life,” Simoneau said. “Everybody comes out and says it’s one of the most incredible things they’ve ever done.”
That perception persists even among celebrities who think they know what they’re signing up for. “Everyone goes in and goes, ‘oh my God, this is harder than I thought it was going to be,” she said. “It shocks people.”
The stripping back of status, routine and comfort is central to the show’s appeal. “You can’t be a shiny, happy celebrity in this camp if that’s not really who you are. It strips down all the layers, and everybody shows who they really are, warts and all.”
Or, as Simoneau puts it more bluntly: “It’s humbling, and it’s the great equaliser.”
Built for broadcast and now streaming
Crucially, the show’s success isn’t confined to linear television, with streaming audiences up 127% year-on-year. Across the series, I’m A Celebrity is now averaging 286,000 streaming viewers, marking its biggest-ever streaming audience.
That dual performance underlines the strength of 10 and Paramount+ as a combined ecosystem rather than competing platforms – with I’m A Celebrity operating as a tentpole that travels seamlessly between live viewing, catch-up and on-demand.
The jungle keeps moving
With another season still unfolding, the focus is already shifting forward.
Casting conversations are happening in real time, storylines are being stress-tested, and the franchise’s central question remains the same: who will audiences argue about next?
For Simoneau, the answer sits at the intersection of curiosity and authenticity. “You’re stripping everything back. And I think people enjoy that. It’s like, ‘I can just be me’. This is liberating.”
In a market chasing the next new thing, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! is proving that longevity, when engineered properly, can still be one of the most powerful growth strategies in television.