TV Overnights: Liverpool v Man Utd scores high of 6m viewers
Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat over Manchester United in Saturday’s FA Cup game attracted more than six million peak viewers on ITV1 and ITV1 HD.
The fourth-round tie at Anfield banked an average audience of more than 3.5 million viewers and a 32.1% share on ITV1 – and 674,000 average viewers and a 6.1% share on ITV1 HD – between 12pm and 3.05pm.
Sunday’s Sunderland v Middlesbrough match secured a slightly lower 3.9 million peak viewers on ITV1 (and an extra 679,000 peak viewers on ITV1 HD).
Staying with sport, BBC Two pulled in a high of almost three million viewers yesterday lunchtime during the Australian Open Tennis final between Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.
The game, which saw the Serbian player beat rival Nadal in five sets, was the longest grand slam final match in history at five hours 53 minutes. Overall, 1.6 million average viewers (a 15.8% average share) tuned in to BBC Two between 8am and 2.30pm.
In the prime-time weekend slots, ITV1’s Dancing on Ice peaked with more than 7.6 million viewers (and 567,000 on ITV1 HD) between 7pm and 8pm last night. Wild at Heart also won the peak ratings for a short 15 minute period at 9.15pm with six million viewers.
Meanwhile, BBC One’s third Call the Midwife, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Miranda Hart, banked the top ratings with more than nine million peak viewers between 8pm and 9pm. In the post-watershed slot, the second and last Birdsong – the Beeb’s wartime drama – achieved a high of 6.3 million viewers.
Also, the nation’s guilty pleasure TOWIE returned to ITV2 last night for a third series, banking more than a million viewers in the 10pm to 11pm slot.
On Saturday evening, BBC One banked a peak ratings run with The Magicians (4.7 million peak viewers), The National Lottery (5.6m), Casualty (5.4m), BBC News (3.4m) and The Rock (2.9m).
Elsewhere, BBC Two’s Keira Knightley film The Duchess secured 2.2 million average viewers, while ITV1’s Take Me Out banked 3.9 million average viewers. Over 2.3 million viewers also tuned in to Channel 4 for The Million Pound Drop live.
Friday night was dominated by Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother final, which enjoyed a peak audience of more than 3.4 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.