Survivor Peaks At 6.9m For Debut Episode

The first episode of ITV’s Survivor gained an average audience of 6.6m last night, with a peak of 6.9m, according to overnight estimates. Although it won the slot, beating the final episode of BBC1’s Clocking Off‘s average of 5.9m, the audience was not of the spectacular size expected to emerge as the show gains momentum and media coverage.

An ITV spokesman today pointed to the amount of media coverage already generated and the fact that in the US, where the show was the hit of last summer, audiences began at a similar modest level, before the growing hype attracted more and more viewers for each episode. It was a similar story last year with Channel 4’s Big Brother (see Big Brother Is Watching Audience Figures Go Up), and although ITV insists it is not in the business of making predictions, it is said to be “confident” in the show.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.co.uk

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