TV Overnights: The X Factor wins the weekend peak slot despite tough competition
This weekend’s television schedule was filled with a whole host of drama, grand finales, and new series but Saturday night’s X Factor still stole the show with more than 11 million peak viewers.
The auditions continued to the tune of 10 million average viewers and an impressive 42.7% share between 7.45pm and 9pm, before ITV1’s brand new show 71 Degrees North dominated the Saturday night 9pm to 10pm slot.
The new eight part series hosted by Kate Thornton and Gethin Jones, which will see 10 celebrities face a number of tasks in Arctic conditions, started on a high of 5.1 million peak viewers and a 20.9% average audience share.
BBC One failed to rival ITV1 during the peak slots, however, the Strictly Come Dancing launch show did manage to secure more than eight million viewers in the earlier 6.25pm to 7.25pm hour.
BBC One’s coverage of the Last Night of the Proms 2010 also took over from ITV1 at 10pm, peaking with over 5.1 million viewers.
Meanwhile, the channel’s return of the fantasy drama Merlin couldn’t compete with The X Factor at 7.25pm, but did attract a decent 5.7 million viewers and a 25.5% average audience share during its slot.
On Sunday, the balance was weighed towards BBC One. More than 4.7 million peak viewers tuned in to see The Italian Grand Prix Live at lunchtime, and BBC One’s A Concert for Heroes with Robbie Williams, Katherine Jenkins and Tom Jones among other big stars pulled in over 6.4 million peak viewers during the evening slot.
Friday night was more of a mixed bag, however, with the aftermath of Eastenders‘ dramatic fire at the Queen Vic, ITV1’s classic Friday evening soap line-up, a new series of the ever-popular crime drama New Tricks and Channel 4’s Ultimate Big Brother final.
ITV1’s Emmerdale secured the early evening audience with 6.3 million peak viewers, before the first trip to Coronation Street pulled in a high of 7.3 million viewers. The second episode of Corrie also picked up the peak audience share for 15 minutes with a high of 5.8 million viewers.
However, BBC One generally ruled the ratings once Eastenders started at 8pm. The special-length episode of BBC One’s flagship soap, which saw one of Walford’s most popular figures dramatically leave the square, attracted more than 9.2 million peak viewers and a 38.1% average audience share.
At 9pm, the first of ten new episodes of New Tricks took over with 7.1 million viewers and a 30.7% average share, securing the peak audience throughout the full 9pm to 10pm hour-long slot.
However, Channel 4’s Big Brother finale was probably the most-talked about programme on Friday night’s television schedule. The last ever series finally came to a close with a string of ‘send off’ shows, including Dermot’s Last Supper and Davina’s Big Send Off.
Ultimate Big Brother: The Final kicked-off the evening’s events with 2.4 million average viewers and an 11% audience share between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. Dermot’s Last Supper and Davina’s Big Send Off followed with slightly higher ratings but it wasn’t until The Final Hour that Channel 4 was able to win over the peak audience share.
The grand finale, which saw the last three housemates leave the Big Brother house for the last time ever, peaked with 3.8 million viewers during the final fifteen minutes. Brian Dowling was crowned the Ultimate Big Brother housemate after Nicky and Chantelle came in second and third place.
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.