It trebles the viewers for the Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special and the World Cup final every week.
But the stars of an Instagram smash hit in a house in Honor Oak – or Dulwich, if you are posh, do not have a 30-year track record in comedy.
Neither are they on a global sporting event. But they have been watched 200 million times already.
They are “yooths” aged 17-22, larking about in a specially-created hothouse for Generation Z performers.
Britain’s first TikTok (that’s a type of social media) house has been dubbed “a cross between Love Island and Big Brother” – but Love Island peaked at six million viewers and Big Brother at eight million.
It will continue for three months during lockdown, encouraging teenagers to stay in.
Their biggest hit so far has been the 1.1million plays of five seconds of them miming to Drake track, Non-Stop .
Bytehouse put six of the nation’s biggest TikTok stars together just before lockdown to create viral content to a combined audience of 15 million followers.
The “content house” – known as Bytesquad and copying a US model – consists of TikTok sensations KT Franklin, 19, Sebby Jon, 20, Monty, 17, Shauni, 19, Surface 19 and Lily-Rose 20, and will air for three months on the Bytehouse Youtube, TikTok and Instagram channels.
They are set challenges, film prank videos and create content as a collective.
They tumble out of bed at 10am, and film until 7pm on a typical day, before going live to answer questions from fans.
The most challenging aspect so far has been a paralysis of creativity – you could call it “byters block”.
A manager from Fanbytes lives onsite to ensure the smooth running of the house.
The concept has been masterminded by Fanbytes, a talent and production agency run by 25-year-old chief executive Timothy Armoo.
Mr Armoo, a computer science graduate who set up his first business online at the age of 14, is in talks with production companies to potentially take the show on to TV.
He said: “We are delighted to launch ByteHouse with some of the most entertaining and talented names in TikTok, and I’m extremely excited to see what we can cook up.
“In a world where younger audiences are moving away from linear TV and moving online and more specifically moving to social, it’s ever more important for programming to be created by Gen Z for Gen Z. Our role in this is very simply to just be the curator and let the experts do their thing.”
He teamed up with Rise Above – a programme developed by PHE to help 11-16-year-olds make informed decisions and to show that hunkering down doesn’t have to be dull.
Jan Nixon, marketing manager at Rise Above, said: “Now more than ever it is vitally important to urge young people to stay home and save lives.
“Byte Squad is an innovative and creative way we can really engage young people with this message, particularly as insights are indicating some young people believe ‘it won’t happen to me – it’s only happening to old people’.
“That is quite simply not the case, and hopefully more young people will follow their example and bunker down – it doesn’t have to be boring, it’s all about staying home and staying healthy – both physically and mentally, and a great way to protect your mental health is by getting creative.”
