Parkinson Gives Boost To ITV’s Saturday Schedule
The debut appearance of chat show king Michael Parkinson on ITV gave a boost to the broadcaster’s schedule on Saturday, attracting over 6 million viewers and an average audience share of 28.1%.
Parkinson, poached from the BBC earlier this year, featured interviews with Tom Cruise and Billy Connolly as well as Olympic heroine Kelly Holmes. The show also saw the veteran chat show presenter secure over a million more viewers than with his BBC1 show.
Saturday night’s audience climbed steadilly throughout Parkinson‘s 75 minutes, from 3.6 million at the beginning of the programme, to a peak of 6.2 million with a share of 33.2%. However, a large-scale advertising campaign had been run to promote the series start and was no-doubt responsible for the high viewing figures. The programme will be given a real test next week when its audience settles down to a normal level.
Parkinson’s two year deal with ITV brought to an end a thirty-three year relationship with the BBC, as the Corporation said goodbye to one of its biggest and most prolific stars. The chat guru’s decision to defect to ITV was prompted by the return of Premiership football highlights to BBC1 on Saturday nights, meaning the channel was no longer able to guarantee him the primetime 10pm slot (see BBC Loses Parkinson To ITV After More Than 30 Years).
ITV bosses will no doubt be pleased at Parkinson‘s strong start as the broadcaster’s continuing decline in audience share could mean it is forced to pay out £100 million in compensation to advertisers.
ITV recently dropped its high-profile home makeover show The Block from primetime schedules as it failed to attract high viewing figures and proved detrimental to the broadcaster’s overall share (see ITV Drops Peak-Time Shows To Avoid Viewing Slump).
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com
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