For the football, I predict:

Coverage: 7.0m
Match: 7.9m

Now all we need is the DS Breaking News banner.

Ratings are here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a1324...-x-factor.html

Neil

Saturday
BBC1
17.50- Strictly Come Dancing: 7.42m (34.6%) * peak: 8.88m (37.5%) at 18.55
19.05- Merlin: 5.92m (25.6%)
19.50- National Lottery: 4.42m (18.9%)
20.40- Casualty: 4.88m (20.7%)
21.30- BBC News: 3.61m (16.3%)
21.50- Little Britain: 2.39m (11.5%)

BBC2
19.45- Big Cat Live: 2.35m (10%)
20.40- Blue Peter at 50: 2.03m (8.7%)
21.40- Never Mind The Buzzcocks: 1.2m (5.6%)
22.10- Beautiful People: 0.71m (3.6%)

ITV1
16.30- England v Kazakhstan: 6.28m (35.5%) * peak: 8.97m (38.8%) at 19.00
19.15- The X Factor: 10.35m (44.1%) * peak: 11.25m (48.5%) at 19.50
21.15- All Star Family Fortunes: 6.48m (29.3%)
22.00- The X Factor Results: 8.02m (40.8%)

C4
20.00- Building of the Year: 0.54m (2.3%)
21.00- Collateral Damage: 1.43m (7%)

Five
19.35- NCIS: 882,000 (3.8%)
20.30- NCIS: 1.07m (4.6%)
21.30- CSI: 1.41m (6.7%)
22.30- Law & Order: 812,000 (5.2%)

Multichannel
19.15- Marple (ITV3): 527,000 (2.6%)
21.15- Taggart (ITV3): 501,000 (2.7%)
21.15- Xtra Factor (ITV2): 924,000 (4.8%)
22.45- Xtra Factor Results (ITV2): 984,000 (7.5%)

Primetime shares:
ITV1: 39.2%, BBC1: 18.7%, BBC2: 7.4%, C4: 4.7%, Five: 4.6%

Source: Digital Spy

Brilliant rating for the performance episode of the X Factor. The results show also did well, but over 2m down on the earlier episode. England match rated great, as expected. ITV1 really had a brilliant night with a 39% prtimetime share! Must be the highest primertime share for ITV1 in ages. BBC1 were generally below par as expected, but credit to Merlin for increasing its audience from last week.

Merlin - 5.9m (26%)
Strictly Come Dancing - 7.4m (35%)

England vs Kazakhstan - 6.3m *peak 9.0m (39%)

The X Factor - 10.4m (44%) *peak 11.3m (49%)
The Xtra Fator - 924,000 (5%)
The X Factor Result - 8.0m (41%)
The Xtra Factor Result - 984,000 (7.5%)

Family Fortunes - 6.5m (29%)


Primetime shares: ITV1 - 39.2%, BBC One 18.7%


Great for XF, Xtra Factor, Family Fortunes and Merlin!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a1324...-x-factor.html

Great for ITV
ITV shouldn't be that concerned about putting X Factor against SCD, they just need to get the results show in earlier.
The football did so much better than I expected and I am surprised how SCD is doing this year

Huge for X Factor last night. I didn't expect it to break 10m, considering it was 2 hours!

It's the first time X Factor has broken 10m for a non final/launch, and is ahead of every XF rating apart from last year's final + final results, and 2006's final results.

Outstanding figure for The X Factor. I bet ITV are very pleased.

Merlin did incredibly well too, seeing as it was up against such strong competition.

good figures for the m/c channels as well. Syncing up the schedule with identical start & end times for ITV1,2,3,4 seem to be working well on these big Saturday nights.
I wonder how ITV4 did with

7:15pm Big Fight Round 2
8:45pm Police, Camera, Action!
9:15pm Sanctuary

Neil, do you have the live and re-run F1 qualifying ratings?

x factor has been great this year. It deserves those figures.

Putting that into perspective, the live shows last year started at around 6.2m but the final reached about 12m. I'm not expecting this years ratings to double but I think its going in the right direction to beat BGT . I have no idea why theres suddenly been a massive surge in interest in the show, maybe Cheryl? I don't know.

Its also good to see X Factor finally (and rightfully) ahead of SCD.

It's interesting that despite the first live show of this series of X Factor and the big rating that went with it that DS decide to lead their ratings article with Merlin getting it's second best rating in it's 4th episode.

Is that really the main story or is there an agenda here ?

Lol, that surprised me as well. I was expecting the title to be about either the X Factor or England match. Merlin held up well, though.

39% in primetime - that is just amazing. It's the more 'solid' shows around the X Factor that is making it stronger. The fact Britain's Got Talent did so well earlier in the year, the consistency of scheduling, trying not to make it too early. It's doing really really well, and of course Cheryl makes it more interesting.

The football did well too, and it will be interesting to see ITV's all-day share, probably around 24-26%, which is good business. The highlights at 11pm must have done ok, and the news must have actually swept up with ratings I feel.

Next year, I'm really excited for ITV as Saturday nights are becoming their strongest, and in the first quarter of 2009, they can really focus on livening up some new shows in a mix of established shows. I'd like to see 'Thank God You're Here' return into a half an hour format much earlier in the evening. And with Harry Hill, this means other shows will benefit a lot, like Beat the Star's second series, and other shows that should premiere on Saturday nights - like 'The Last Van Helsing', another series of 'Afterlife', the best episodes of 'London's Burning' (and then the returning episode should be a 4 parter on the firefighter response to 7/7).

Look at how it's boosted Family Fortunes, albeit it probably temporarily with a solid 6.5m in a later slot. Now, I feel it can be moved back to a 7-9 slot somewhere and grab at least 5 million viewers.

Next week will only get better. At the start of next year, ITV should really make sure their schedule is workable by dedicating a whole week to primetime episodes of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. Last time the show was in a daily format, it was pulling more than 10 million viewers, and I feel the gameshow needs to go back to its 'event' feel now the novelty has worn off.

Britannia High should be on Sunday's on ITV2. Fact.

Sorry, but I disagree about that!

ITV have obviously spent a lot of money on BH, so why shunt it on ITV2? I said a few months back that I thought it would flop on ITV1, but I've changed my mind. I reckon if it's given a good slot on ITV1, it potentially could become a big hit for ITV- the reviews indicate that it's very good.

I'm a little surprised that The Xtra Factor didn't break the 1 million mark for its average but it was close. And I'm surprised so many people stuck around for Family Fortunes!

Not now, obviously. But when it was written & made, it should have been an ITV2 show, and it could've been its biggest programme.

Don't you think there's too much on at one time?

I agree, and I think it would be a good move if they put it at 8pm on Sunday, with Heartbeat at 7pm and Frost at 9pm, to give it a good platform.

I agree. If its not good enough for ITV1 it shouldnt have been made. Full stop. It should have a spin off show on ITV2. ITV needs to have careful risk taking, one or two experiements each season. Otherwise they wont bring on any new hits

It could have been ITV2's biggest show, yes, but it could be a hit on ITV1.

I don't think there is too much on at one time, really. When XF shortens to 90 minutes in a couple of weeks, it'll look better (and Family Fortunes will probably take a break when I'm a Celebrity starts).

What a collosal night for ITV1-some strong figures there. Everything was a little higher than I expected tbh, and I didn't think it would harm BBC1 that much! Family Fortunes definetely benefiting from the XF sandwich and to bring in 8m in the 10pm hour is excellent! ITV will be pleased with a 41% share in that hour as it looks like the XF results are staying their for the time being. Though I still can't quite comprehend how much the XF is up on last year-almost double!! ITV's multichannels also performing excellently with drama alternatives and XF spin offs. I didn't expect the Xtra Factor to bring in 1m at 11pm either!

BBC1 held up well until 7.50pm, but then a large proportion seemed to stick with ITV1 until 11pm. That's not good for Casualty at all, despite being up against XF. Also I can't see the LB:USA repeats being in primetime much longer. Lazy scheduling anyway-the repeat should be on BBC2/3.

Mixed results for BBC2, average night for FIVE and a very poor night (again!) for CH4, being squeezed out for the majority by the big two.

I think it would obviously had done very well on ITV2, but it will probably do very well on ITV1 anyways.

I do agree with you that ITV have left quite a lot shows for the autumn. They had nothing during the summer and have left a lot for the autumn, that it's going to be a bit difficult to fit it all in. But I think there'll be a vacant Sunday 7pm slot, which it can go in- A good alternative to Antiques Roadshow. Alternatively, they could sandwich it between the 2 XF shows (assuming Family Fortunes finishes soon).

Yes, but my opinion is, they've wasted 'For One Night Only' in that Sunday 7pm slot. That was just classic entertainment that could have got 5 million viewers after an episode of The X Factor and it could've started the foundations for a good future for the show.

I just feel ITV need to be more sneaky. They know that if they get bad viewers, they can either axe or aid the show. Now, Britannia High could benefit from having its first series on ITV2 to gain a loyal younger audience, that would watch the second series (thus guarenteeing the second series good figures?). Remember, it happened with the Apprentice, that's my argument. And more shows should be saved for ITV2 in my opinion as it's doing really well at the moment.

Another thing: Who Dares, Sings should be an ITV2 show next year in an early Sunday night slot, we should have a 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' spin-off on ITV2 next year, giving it a years break on ITV1.

Just little things like this can help stabalise a network of channels, and bring them closer together.

PJ there's a big difference between the relationship between BBC One with BBC Two and ITV with ITV2.

BBC Two and ITV2 are markedly different.

Fact is, BH would only get maybe 500,000 on ITV2. Same for the I'm a Celeb spin-off. Figures would probably average out at 300,000. Wouldn't be good enough to "promote" to ITV1 now would it?