Goldeneye Nets 52% Share For ITV

The first in the planned series of James Bond films, Goldeneye, saw ITV gain an audience of 12.1 million last night, according to unofficial overnight figures from the Network Centre. This represents an average 52% share of all viewing across the film’s two hour slot, from 9pm to 11pm.

ITV’s peak-time salvo against the BBC was strengthened even further with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. The big money quiz show, hosted by Chris Tarrant, drew in 13.7 million viewers, or a 53% share, against BBC1’s Changing Rooms which managed only 5.0 million, or a 19% share. The picture across the whole of the peaktime schedule (7pm-10:30pm) is even more bleak for BBC1 which only held an 18.2% share against ITV’s average of 53%.

Despite this, however, the BBC has claimed a victory for its news bulletins on Budget Day. According to unofficial overnights, the Six O’Clock News took an average of 7.9 million viewers on Tuesday; ITV’s Evening News got an average of 7.2 million.

ITV is hoping to maintain these kind of figures when it shows the whole James Bond sequence of films during the summer. Starting in June with Dr No, each Wednesday night will offer a Bond film right through to the latest, Tomorrow Never Dies, for which ITV has secured exclusive first broadcast rights.

ITV Network Centre: 0171 843 8000