TV Overnights: The X Factor hits a high of 13.6 million
ITV1’s The X Factor continued to dominate the weekend ratings, hitting an impressive high of more than 13.6 million peak viewers.
On Saturday, the first of the two episodes peaked with 11.3 million viewers after the stealing the highest ratings from BBC One’s rival Saturday night show Strictly Come Dancing.
Strictly reached a high of 8.2 million viewers before The X Factor started, but settled on an average of 7.6 million and a 30.6% share throughout the 2-hour long slot. The X Factor, meanwhile, secured 10.8 million average viewers and a 42% audience share between 8pm and 10pm.
On Sunday, the talent show banked the top spot again with more than 13.6 million peak viewers and a 45.4% average audience share. The X Factor pulled out all the stops with performances from their very own Cheryl Cole and Whitney Houston – her first on British television in 12 years.
The programme also saw the two acts with the fewest votes sing again in a bid to keep their place on the show. Cheryl’s Ricky and Dannii’s Rachel battled it out but Simon Cowell’s deciding vote meant that Ricky had to go.
ITV1 also managed to hold on to the majority audience share after The X Factor had finished. The fifth episode in the latest Doc Martin series attracted more than 9.2 million peak viewers and a 34.6% average audience share between 9pm and 10pm last night.
Doc Martin was up against BBC One’s period drama Emma, which pulled in a much lower 3.3 million peak viewers and a 12.7% average audience share during the all-important peak-hour.
At the same time, Channel 4’s film premiere The Last King of Scotland lost out to BBC Two’s Charley Boorman: Sydney to Tokyo, by Any Means. The political thriller film starring Forest Whitaker picked up 1.2 million average viewers and a 6.4% share compared to Boorman‘s 1.9 million viewers and 7.4% share.
During the day, BBC One’s Formula 1 coverage of The Brazilian Grand Prix, which saw British driver Jenson Button win the world championship for Brawn GP, attracted over 8.8 million peak viewers and a 34.5% average audience share between 4pm and 7.10pm.
Saturday’s Grand Prix Qualifying also secured the top spot for BBC One with more than 4 million average viewers and a 22.9% audience share between 5.20pm and 7.15pm.
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.