vallierojas: Rugby World Cup keeps ITV1 on the ball with 6m viewers

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Rugby World Cup keeps ITV1 on the ball with 6m viewers

England's quarter-final defeat against France peaks with 53% share but Harry Hill struggles against Strictly Come Dancing

More than 6 million viewers watched England's exit from the rugby World Cup despite the early morning start on ITV1.

England's 19-12 quarter-final defeat by France averaged 4.2 million viewers across more than three hours of coverage between 8am and 11.15am on Saturday.

The game peaked with 6.4 million viewers, a 53% share of the TV audience, at 10.15am.

ITV's coverage of the tournament to date may or may not provide some fodder for Harry Hill's TV Burp, which returned with 4.4 million viewers, rising to 4.61 million when ITV1+1 viewers were included ? a 19.3% share of the audience.

Hill ? who is tipped to leave ITV after his current two-year deal comes to an end ? had the misfortune of launching into the teeth of Robbie Savage and his fellow contestants on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing. The celebrity dance show had 8.68 million viewers, a 36.3% share.

Hill's show had considerably fewer than the 5.7 million viewers (24.2%) who saw the launch episode of his equivalent new series in October last year.

You Have Been Watching ...

A tribute night to comedy legend David Croft delivering good ratings for BBC2, although with its penchant for classic comedy repeats, viewers could be forgiven for thinking it was just a regular Saturday night line-up on the BBC's second channel.

Are You Being Served? proved the most popular with 2.75 million viewers, a 10.3% share, between 8pm and 8.30pm.

It pipped Dad's Army into second place, with 2.5 million viewers (9.6%) between 8.30pm and 9pm, ahead of 'Allo 'Allo, watched by 2.23 million viewers, an 8.5% share, between 7.30pm and 8pm.

Documentary A Tribute to David Croft, who co-wrote all three shows, kicked off the tribute evening with 1.94 million (7.9%) between 7.20pm and 7.30pm.

First rule of overnights, kiddo ...

Boardwalk Empire returned to Sky Atlantic with 248,000 viewers, a 1% share, between 9pm and 10.15pm on Saturday.

It was down on the 438,000 viewers who watched the first series debut of the much-anticipated Martin Scorsese drama, part of the launch line-up of Sky Atlantic on 1 February.

Big Bother Avoided ? Just

Channel 5's Big Brother kept its head above the 1 million mark, but only just, with 1.02 million viewers, a 5.1% share, between 10pm and 11pm.

All ratings are Barb overnight figures, including live and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, +1 or other ? unless otherwise stated. Figures for BBC1, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5 generally include ratings for their HD simulcast services, unless otherwise stated

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