TV Overnights: Nearly 6m See Wales Exit Rugby World Cup

The valiant attempt by 14-man Wales to reach the final of Rugby World Cup attracted a high of just under 6 million viewers for ITV1 on Saturday morning.

The semi-final match between Wales and France, which saw Welsh captain Sam Warburton sent off for a dangerous tackle, peaked at 5.7 million during the final fifteen minutes of the match. Meanwhile Sunday’s second semi-final match, between long time southern hemisphere rivals Australia and New Zealand, achieved a peak audience of 3.7 million (also for the final fifteen minutes).

Elsewhere the Saturday night battle between The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing resulted in positive news for the two main terrestrial broadcasters. ITV1’s popular singing talent show managed to gain the highest peak audience of the day with 10.3 million watching between 8.30pm and 8.45pm. Whilst BBC One’s celebrity dancing contest had the higher average audience of 9.1 million, no doubt helped by the last half an hour overlapping with the start of its rival show on the commercial channel.

Sunday night saw ITV1 take the spoils with The X Factor Results and Downton Abbey comfortably seeing off the challenge from BBC One’s offerings. There was a peak audience of just under 11 million who saw Tulisa’s act Nu Vibe voted off the show at the expense of Frankie Cocozza. Meanwhile the first World War set drama pulled in 9 million during the first fifteen minutes of broadcast.

Over on BBC One the results show for Strictly Come Dancing was watched by 9.5 million people. Unfortunately the channel was unable to maintain that high figure for Antiques Roadshow and Spooks, which pulled in ratings of 6.3 and 4.4 million against the aforementioned ITV1 opposition.

After the international break Sky Sports’ Premier League football coverage attracted healthy viewing figures across the weekend. The matches featuring Liverpool vs Manchester United, Arsenal vs Sunderland and Newcastle vs Tottenham Hotspur were all watched by over 1 million people.

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.