ITV Clinches Champions League Ratings Victory

ITV enjoyed ratings success last night, bringing relief to its sagging schedules as almost 10 million football fans tuned in to its flagship ITV1 to watch Liverpool’s victory over Chelsea in the second leg semi-final of the UEFA Champions League.

The match ended 1-0 to Liverpool, thanks to a Luis Garcia goal, drawing the largest audience of this season’s competition. The previous best was Chelsea’s 4-2 win against the much fancied Barcelona, which achieved an average rating of 6.4 million on 8th March.

With kick off at 7:45pm, the hard-won victory for Liverpool drew a peak audience of 9.92 million at 9:30pm, securing a 49% share for ITV. This will come as good news to ITV bosses, following the poor performance of its Saturday schedule, when much-maligned Celebrity Wrestling went head to head with the BBC’s Dr Who, compounding the defeat suffered by its debut screening the week before (see BBC Pins ITV In Saturday Wrestling Showdown).

ITV’s celebrity talent show, Hit Me Baby One More Time, also failed to deliver on Saturday, joining Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Hell’s Kitchen in failing to muster an audience over 4 million.

However, last nights football marked a return to form for ITV, with an average audience of 8.1 million making it the highest rating Champions League match since 23 April 2003, when Manchester United defeated Real Madrid 4-3.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com