Britain's Got Talent 'set to be extended to air over THREE MONTHS in huge ... trends now
Britain's Got Talent bosses are reportedly set to sign a huge £100 million deal that could see the ITV show spread over three months.
In a bid to overtake their BBC rival Strictly Come Dancing, producers are reportedly hoping to fill the space left by Saturday Night Takeaway, by airing a future series from February through to May.
For many years BGT has aired for seven weeks, before the live semi-finals are spread over five nights in a single week.
The show, produced by Thames, is reaching the end of its five-year contract in 2025, and following the huge online success of clips from the show, its expected to land another three or five-year contract with ITV.
According to overnight and seven-day figures, the current series of BGT - with Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli as judges - rakes in seven million views on average, down from a peak 13million in 2009.
Britain's Got Talent bosses are reportedly set to sign a huge £100 million deal that could see the next series of the ITV show spread over three months
In a bid to overtake rival Strictly Come Dancing, producers are reportedly hoping to fill the space left by Saturday Night Takeaway by airing a future series from February through to May
However the show's online reach is far wider, with 24billion total views of clips, and one audition alone receiving over 300 million views.
A source told The Sun: 'Stretching BGT over three months could make it more of a presence.
'Online is where advertisers are now pumping in their money, but to get the clips they need the show.
'So BGT's creators have the upper hand as they strike a new deal.'
BGT's YouTube channel has 20million subscribers, with its most viewed clip being Calum Scott's 2015 audition with a version of Dancing On My Own, which has 390 million views.
Strictly's YouTube channel has 772,000 subscribers, with its most-watched video being a performance by the professional dancers to Cotton Eye Joe, receiving nine million views.
So far, the latest series of BGT has been viewed 660 million times across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
Sydnie Christmas's audition, which featured in episode one last month, has been viewed 54million times in six weeks.
The show is reaching the end of its five-year contract in 2025, and following the huge online success of clips, its expected to land another three or five-year contract
BGT's YouTube channel has 20million subscribers, with its most viewed clip being Calum Scott's 2015 audition with a version of Dancing On My Own, which has 390 million views
A three-month BGT would feature six Saturdays of audition episodes, following six Saturdays of semi-finals, before a live final, with bosses even considering the addition of Sunday results, akin to The X Factor years earlier.
Currently the show airs all of its semi-finals and final in the same week, with this year's series set to conclude on June 2.
ITV and Thames did not comment when contacted by The Sun. MailOnline has contacted a representative for Britain's Got Talent for
