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June marked the show's ratings nadir - the episode broadcast on 13 June attracted an all-time-low audience of just 1.2 million.

"This is clearly a problem for Channel 4 and will be so in 2010," said Andrew Spray, broadcast director at PHD. But, he added, C4 would still "probably struggle more without it".

Mike Parker, head of strategic sales at C4, acknowledged lack of interest generated by this year's BB had made an impact on last month's ratings, but said the show continued to fuel young audiences across its network, with E4 reporting a 23% hike in share among 16 to 34-year-olds. He also pointed to the BBC's Wimbledon coverage, featuring Andy Murray, as stealing share from commercial broadcasters.

June also proved a tough ratings month for ITV1, with year-on-year share falling 6%, although this is compared to a month of Euro 2008. The channel also experienced a month-on-month fall from 29.4% in May to 26.4% in June.

Five was the only terrestrial channel to boost its share - up 5% year on year, to an 8.9% share of adults in June. Jason Talley, controller of sales at Five, credited its scheduling successes, which include The Mentalist and CSI Miami. Five's volume of impacts was also up 12% for all adults and 8% for ABC1 adults.