TV Overnights: Bayern Munich’s victory pulls a peak of 7.7m to ITV1
Live UEFA Champions League kicked-off last night’s TV highlights with coverage of Real Madrid v Bayern Munich starting on ITV1 at 7:30pm. Two of Europe’s biggest teams battled it out for a place in the final as the match came live from Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The actual game kicked off at 7:45 and fished in a 3-3 aggregated score, running the game into overtime.
An average audience of 6.2 million people watched the pre-match coverage and the game itself. The audience swelled to 7.7 million as the game was decided through penalty shootouts, with 1.2 million of those watching the action in HD (despite a 15 second glitch on ITV1 HD around this time). A peak audience share of 33% witnessed the German team win 3-1 on penalties.
If you thought the BBC’s move to MediaCity in Salford was a bit drastic, spare a thought for the staff at Waterloo Road (BBC One, 8pm). The series seven finale pulled in 4.7 million viewers last night, a slightly higher audience than the last few episodes managed. Currently set and filmed in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the current plotline has seen the school facing closure. An audience share of 20% tuned in last night to see ‘Super’ Head Teacher Michael Byrne accept a former pupil’s (now a millionaire, naturally) financial offer and avoid closure by moving the school to Greenock in Scotland, on and off-screen. The delight was clearly visible in the cast’s faces as Michael made the announcement, in one of his usual high-energy speeches.
We’re halfway through the current series of The Apprentice (BBC One, 9pm) and viewers are still frantically searching for a front runner to back. Last night’s episode secured the biggest average audience of the night, with an audience share of 26%. Yesterday the current competitors were busy trying not to look dead behind the eyes while Lord Sugar set this week’s challenge, which could only be improved next series by ditching Dance of the Knights as the theme and replacing it with Laurel and Hardy-style music. 6.6 million viewers watched as the teams were sent up to Scotland to lend their professionalism and experience to a street food project, a 600,000 rise in the audience week on week.
Team Phoenix was led by Adam, the man who puts the ‘mechanically reclaimed meat’ back in to meatballs, refusing to spend money on quality ingredients. Following a suggestion by Katie, the team attempted to flog the overpriced Italian dish to footy fans, resulting in poor sales. Team Sterling went the other route, producing a Scot Hot Pot aimed directly at tourists, resulting in a victory of their stingy rivals.
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.