ITV1’s Football Kicks Off With 4 Million Viewers

ITV’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League match between Arsenal and FC Porto attracted over 4.2 million peak viewers last night.

The game, which saw Arsenal win 4-0, pulled in an average 3.4 million viewers and a 15% audience share between 7.30pm and 10pm.

However, it failed to win over the peak audience, with the exception of a 30-minute slot around 9pm, losing out to BBC One’s Eastenders, Holby City and the last in the series of Mutual Friends.

The hour-long BBC One 9 o’clock drama, starring Marc Warren and Alexander Armstrong, secured an average 15% audience share with 3.4 million viewers, as well as the peak audience during the last half of the show.

Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver’s new programme, Ministry of Food, proved to be a success for Channel 4 between 9pm and 10pm, banking a 13% audience share with almost 3.4 million peak viewers.

Inspired by the efforts of the wartime Ministry of Food, Jamie Oliver tries to turn around home-cooking in Rotherham.

Elsewhere, BBC Two’s Losing it – Griff Rhys Jones on Anger failed to match Channel Five’s popular crime show, CSI: Miami between 9pm and 10pm, which picked up more than 2.4 million average viewers to BBC Two’s 1 million viewers.

Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv