Madonna’s stumble on ITV helps BRITs 2015 bag 5.3m viewers
Wednesday night saw the crème de la crème of popular musical talent take over ITV’s evening schedule as they descended upon London’s O2 arena for The Brit Awards 2015 (8pm).
The 35th attempt to make an evening of industry award distribution somewhat entertaining featured some of the planet’s biggest names in Tesco chart music, including such perma-present faces like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.
In a bold attempt to make it somewhat distinguishable from every other music awards show from the past two years, elderly struggling artists like Madonna and perma-stubbled vagabonds Take That were also allowed a moment on the stage.
Thankfully, now featuring 100% less James Cordon, last night’s annual night of the British Phonographic Industry’s statue dispersal saw untested up and comers Anthony and Declan take on presenting duties, hoping that the two hour twenty minute festival of self-promotion went off without a hitch.
An average audience of 5.3 million viewers tuned in to see Madonna return to the Brits after twenty years of knowing better, only to birth a trending hashtag and meme for all the wrong reasons. The ceremony easily secured the 9pm slot for ITV, with Madonna’s cape-related tumble down a few stairs helping to net a 24% share.
As news of the wardrobe malfunction spread across the Twittersphere at an alarming rate, the repeat on ITV+1 saw the opening audience of 299,000 at 9pm swell to 577,000 viewers at 11pm, with everyone hoping to catch a glimpse of the professional getting back on her feet to finish her set.
In total the entire broadcast generated over 2 million tweets, resulting in an impressive 377 tweets for every thousand viewers.
BBC One provided its only shiny distraction in the 9pm slot, tempting viewers away from all the commercial backslapping by offering up some selfless and charitable fun in the form of The People’s Strictly for Comic Relief.
Kind of like the standard Strictly, but even more frivolous, the show saw six superfans step up to the dancefloor in the first of six episodes. 3.6 million viewers tuned in for their February fix of sequins and swirling, resulting in a 16% share.
There was more frolicsome fun on offer over on BBC Two as those happy-go-lucky and laid back Tudor types on Wolf Hall (9pm) wrapped up the series with a very grand finale.
Despite nearly every viewer knowing where the story was heading, the shocking and bleak final episode cemented the superior historical series for BBC Two, with all the main players delivering the goods.
Opening up with 3.9 million viewers towards the end of January, the very well-received historical epic seemed to be a victim of the iPlayer factor, with the live audience eroding a little each week.
Last night saw 2.3 million viewers tune in to see Thomas Cromwell orchestrate Anne Boleyn’s tragic downfall at the behest of a demented King Henry VIII. The grim conclusion to the adaptation of Hillary Mantel’s popular novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, secured a 10% share.
On Channel 4, St George’s Hospital was once again the setting for real life and death stories on 24 Hours in A&E (9pm). 1.6 million viewers tuned in for the touching tale made up of very human moments, resulting in a 7% share.
Earlier at 8pm, BBC One kicked off its night of charitable entertainment with the third instalment of The Great Comic Relief Bake Off. 6 million viewers returned to the white tent of terror to see David Mitchell, Sarah Brown, Michael Sheen and some yuff DJ for the kids fret over their baked wares, netting a 27% share.
The day’s top two spots belonged to ITV’s soaps, with Emmerdale at 7pm bringing in 6.2 million viewers and a 32% share.
Afterwards, Coronation Street continued to push the big return of an old character that no one remembers, as Jenny Bradley and Kevin Webster embarked on another disastrous Weatherfield relationship. The day’s biggest audience, 7.3 million viewers, tuned in to see Rita Littlewood Bates Fairclough Sullivan Tanner reunite with her estranged foster daughter, resulting in a 35% share.
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. Overnight data supplied by TRP are based on 15 minute slot averages. This may differ from tape checked figures, which are based on a programme’s actual start and end time.
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