TV Overnights: X Factor final wins 13.8m viewers

This weekend’s X Factor final peaked with more than 13.8 million viewers (including both ITV1 and ITV1 HD) last night.

The first of the two shows won a high of 11.1 million viewers on Saturday evening, while yesterday’s grand finale enjoyed a peak audience of 13.8 million viewers.

On ITV1, the show peaked in the final fifteen minutes as Little Mix were crowned winners. According to the Telegraph, 66% of people watching consulted Twitter before deciding who to vote for. The study, which was carried out by Carat (and analysed the data of 13,000 people), found that the majority of people consider what is said on Twitter and Facebook about The X Factor to be as influential as the judges’ comments. (In the US, X Factor fans can use Twitter to vote free of charge!).

Last year, The X Factor final attracted a higher 16.5 million viewers for ITV1. This series has has been plagued by negative headlines amid fall-outs between the new judges, the drink and drug charges surrounding one contestant (who then left the competition), more ‘fixing’ claims and falling ratings.

The programme has also been knocked off the top spot by its Saturday night rival, Strictly Come Dancing, this season. BBC One’s celebrity dancing competition, which is always scheduled before The X Factor, has claimed the top Saturday night ratings more than once – including this Saturday, despite it only being the Strictly semi-final versus The X Factor final.

Strictly Come Dancing banked 12.1 million peak viewers on Saturday night, while 11.6 million viewers tuned in to BBC One on Sunday evening to find out who will be performing in next week’s final, which will be filmed in Blackpool.

BBC One dominated most of the Saturday daytime ratings this weekend. Breakfast started off the day’s peak run, followed by Saturday Kitchen, while Football Focus and the Snooker: UK Championship coverage secured the top ratings during the afternoon slot.

It was a similar story on Sunday – though BBC Two claimed some of the ratings for the Snooker, which peaked with 1.9 million viewers in the late afternoon slot. BBC Two’s coverage also continued in the evening – attracting an even higher 2.6 million viewers at 10pm.

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.