BBC’s Fame Academy Finishes On A High Note
The BBC’s highly criticised foray into reality-TV, Fame Academy, has silenced its critics drawing a peak audience of 8.2 million for its two part Friday night final.
According to the BBC, the final show was the second highest rated entertainment programme on BBC1, below Test The Nation, which gained 9 million viewers in March.
The first half of the Fame Academy final, which was screened between 8.30pm and 9.30pm, attracted an average audience of 8 million, while the second half of the showdown, drew a peak audience of 7.8 million and an average audience of 7.2 million.
The show also provided BBC Choice with its highest ever audience of 722,000 viewers, which equates to a 9.7% share of viewing across all multi-channel homes.
Fame Academy got off to a shaky start and was quickly dubbed Lame Academy by some sections of the press, after its initial shows gained audiences around the 4 million mark (see BBC’s Fame Academy Suffers From Pop Stars Fatigue).
However, Jane Lush, controller of entertainment commissioning, commented: “We’re so thrilled at the loyalty of the Fame Academy viewers. The talent on the show is outstanding and the viewers obviously recognised this with over 8m tuning in last night.”
She added: “I can guarantee that none of us have heard the last of the Fame Academy students.”
The BBC has also declared Fame Academy a success for its interactive and online platforms. The show’s website has attracted more than 14 million page impressions, while its interactive platform has attracted 1.5 million users.
The show provided the BBC with its highest ever poll for a BBC vote with 6.9 million votes. 3.5 million people voted for Scottish David Sneddon (pictured), who beat off competition from Sinead Quinn from Northern Ireland.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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