I think the Beeb will be relieved with those figures, given the controversy this week, and a stronger ITV line up than last year.

Both figures are a bit up on last year's overnights, particularly the main show, in line with the general trend for this series, but nothing like what TXF managed last week of course.

I assume these overnights reflect actual broadcast times, not advertised slots though?

It probably is definitely everything upto 10/10.05pm. But I dunno if the over-run period of 10.05-10.10pm was taken into account. Also it may have had a higher 5-minute peak, as the BBC usually report the 15-minute peak.

EDIT: 13.3m is the 5-minute peak!

Why?

It's ok for TXF to drag a karaoke contest out from high summer to Christmas presumably, but SCD is overdoing it by running from late September?

What nonsense.

with those ratings, why do the bbc want to change the format? The reason the X Factor gets bigger ratings is because its on later!

Still great ratings. The BBC will be very pleased.

Not necessarily the case. It can be a reason for TXF getting higher ratings compared to last year, but whether it is the only reason for TXF beating Strictly is debatable.

Strictly had a better slot and easier opposition last night but still was over 1m less than what The X Factor got last week in a poorer slot.

Plus The X Factor nearly always got a higher % than Strictly.

'Course I'm not disputing that Strictly got fantastic ratings last night. The BBC will be very pleased. That NOTW is rubbish.

Saturday 20th December Overnights
BBC1
16:30- Final Score: 2.8m (18.9%)
17:20- BBC News: 4.9m (28.3%)
17:35- Regional News: 5.0m (27.8%)
17:40- Hole In The Wall: 4.8m (25.3%)
18:10- Outtake TV: 6.1m (29.4%)
18:40- Strictly Come Dancing: 11.7m (47.7%)
20:00- National Lottery Draws: 8.6m (36.9%)
20:15- Casualty: 7.4m (31.0%)
21:05- Strictly Come Dancing Results: 12.2m (49.6%)
* 5-minute peak: 13.3m
* most watched episode of Strictly ever
* most watched series of Strictly ever; about 0.5m up on last year
22:05- Outnumbered: 7.2m (34.1%)
22:35- BBC News: 5.1m (28.9%)
22:50- Match of the Day: 3.0m (24.2%)

BBC2
17:30- Dad's Army: 2.8m (13.9%)
21:40- Have I Got a Bit More News for You: 2.0m ( 8.6%)

ITV1
17:30- Britannia High: about 1.3m
18:35- Regional News: 2.0m ( 9.1%)
18:45- ITV News and Weather: 2.5m (10.7%)
18:55- You’ve Been Framed!: 4.0m (16.3%)
19:25- Harry Hill’s TV Burp: 4.4m (17.7%)
19:55- All Star Mr and Mrs Christmas Special: 4.8m (20.2%)
20:55- For One Night Only: 2.7m (11.0%)

15-minute Breakdown
Time ………. BBC1 ……………… ITV ……………… BBC2 ……………… CH4 ……………… CH5
18:00 …. 5.3 (27.0%) …. 1.3 ( 6.9%) …. 3.2 (16.3%) …. 1.2 ( 6.2%) …. 0.9 ( 4.6%)
18:15 …. 5.7 (28.0%) …. 1.3 ( 6.5%) …. 3.5 (16.9%) …. 1.2 ( 5.7%) …. 0.9 ( 4.4%)
18:30 …. 7.8 (35.4%) …. 1.8 ( 8.3%) …. 3.2 (14.4%) …. 0.8 ( 3.5%) …. 0.9 ( 4.0%)
18:45 …. 10.7 (44.7%) …. 2.7 (11.4%) …. 2.6 (11.0%) …. 0.6 ( 2.6%) …. 0.8 ( 3.3%)
19:00 …. 11.7 (48.1%) …. 4.1 (17.0%) …. 1.1 ( 4.7%) …. 0.8 ( 3.1%) …. 0.9 ( 3.6%)
19:15 …. 12.0 (48.5%) …. 4.3 (17.4%) …. 1.0 ( 4.1%) …. 0.7 ( 3.0%) …. 0.8 ( 3.4%)
19:30 …. 12.5 (49.5%) …. 4.5 (17.7%) …. 1.1 ( 4.2%) …. 0.7 ( 2.9%) …. 0.9 ( 3.6%)
19:45 …. 12.3 (49.8%) …. 4.0 (16.2%) …. 1.3 ( 5.3%) …. 0.7 ( 3.0%) …. 0.6 ( 2.3%)
20:00 …. 8.6 (36.9%) …. 4.4 (18.8%) …. 1.6 ( 6.8%) …. 0.8 ( 3.5%) …. 1.1 ( 4.6%)
20:15 …. 6.7 (28.2%) …. 5.4 (22.7%) …. 1.6 ( 6.9%) …. 1.0 ( 4.2%) …. 1.3 ( 5.5%)
20:30 …. 6.8 (28.7%) …. 5.1 (21.3%) …. 1.3 ( 5.6%) …. 1.2 ( 4.9%) …. 1.4 ( 5.9%)
20:45 …. 7.7 (32.3%) …. 4.4 (18.5%) …. 1.3 ( 5.6%) …. 1.2 ( 5.2%) …. 1.3 ( 5.6%)
21:00 …. 10.8 (44.6%) …. 3.2 (13.1%) …. 1.4 ( 6.0%) …. 1.1 ( 4.3%) …. 1.0 ( 4.3%)
21:15 …. 11.8 (48.2%) …. 2.6 (10.6%) …. 1.4 ( 5.6%) …. 1.1 ( 4.4%) …. 1.2 ( 4.8%)
21:30 …. 12.4 (49.6%) …. 2.4 ( 9.5%) …. 1.5 ( 6.2%) …. 1.0 ( 4.2%) …. 1.1 ( 4.6%)
21:45 …. 12.6 (50.9%) …. 2.0 ( 8.3%) …. 1.6 ( 6.6%) …. 1.1 ( 4.5%) …. 1.0 ( 4.1%)
22:00 …. 12.3 (51.0%) …. 1.4 ( 6.0%) …. 2.0 ( 8.5%) …. 1.1 ( 4.8%) …. 0.9 ( 3.6%)
22:15 …. 6.5 (30.9%) …. 1.6 ( 7.5%) …. 2.4 (11.4%) …. 1.3 ( 6.3%) …. 1.2 ( 5.6%)
22:30 …. 6.3 (32.2%) …. 1.5 ( 7.7%) …. 1.4 ( 7.1%) …. 1.1 ( 5.7%) …. 1.2 ( 6.0%)
22:45 …. 4.9 (28.0%) …. 1.5 ( 8.6%) …. 1.4 ( 8.3%) …. 1.1 ( 6.5%) …. 1.0 ( 6.0%)
23:00 …. 3.6 (23.4%) …. 1.6 (10.7%) …. 1.5 ( 9.8%) …. 1.2 ( 7.9%) …. 0.8 ( 5.2%)

Source: DWF

Great ratings for Strictly. Most watched episode and series ever. 4th most watched programme of 2008 based on overnights:

Most Watched Programmes of 2008 (Overnight Ratings)
01 - 13.5m (54%) - THE X FACTOR (13/12/08) - ITV1
02 - 13.1m (55%) - BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT (31/05/08) - ITV1
03 - 12.4m (51%) - CORONATION STREET (18/01/08) - ITV1
04 - 12.2m (50%) - STRICTLY COME DANCING (20/12/08) - BBC1
05 - 11.7m (44%) - DANCING ON ICE (16/03/08) - ITV1
06 - 11.4m (42%) - EASTENDERS (24/03/08) - BBC1

Besides Strictly, brilliant for Outnumbered. Even if Strictly did inflate the figure, the latter half of the show still got over 6m. That should hopefully bring in some new viewers for the remainder of this great show!

True, and SCD has ironically boosted the available audience for TXF - had it not got the bums on seats in the first place, there would be fewer bums there when TXF came on. But that's not the full story, TXF has had a remarkable year and the question is whether that can be carried through when it returns with its "BGT hat" on in May (or sooner) and under the TXF guise in August. Something made it attract a new audience who had missed it before, and it will be interesting to see if that ingredient is still there in 2009.

Meantime, the Beeb can be very happy indeed. If we'd said 2 weeks ago (before we knew how TXF would do for its final) that SCD would peak with 13.3m (and possibly more) for the final, I think that would have been greeted with some astonishment.

A great start to the Christmas fortnight for the BBC, with much more still to come.

Yes, I agree.
SCD is actually on for a shorter run than X Factor, and has performed best this year.

Maybe, our answer is the demographic focus of each programme's audience.

SCD: Older generation
TXF: Younger viewers - show more likely to spread through school, the workplace, etc.

Overall, I believe The X Factor had more potential than Strictly Come Dancing, simply because it appeals to a more broad demographic. It's got normal people in it, younger viewers can relate with the dream. Can younger viewers relate to a dream of being a celebrity dancer? It all seems a bit boring for younger viewers.

Hence, TXF has more and more potential to increase its viewership, which I feel could surpass 15/16 million viewers next year. I also think Britain's Got Talent will have a massive year, and those two reality shows will be in a league of their own.

I think that Dancing on Ice and Strictly Come Dancing will probably be at a stable 9/10 million viewers next year, but I think that's as far as they go unfortunately, apart from the finale.

Did Outnumbered really get 7m?!

The news slot got 5m so it probably did get something like that when these figures are adjusted!

EDIT: no, it didn't - but it will have got about 6.5m which is fantastic and well-deserved.

If only the Beeb had launched series 2 in that slot last night!

Anyone know what Britannia High got? anything below 2 million and that is probably the axe.

I think Strictly has had a bad series. It does looks dated and all the wrong people got picked.

I hope the revamp stories are true as it needs and and maybe it's time for Brucie to go as well.

It's only got 1 spin off. Which might run 5 days a week, but for only 30 minutes, so over a week thats only 2 and a half hours of spin off. Where as The Xtra Factor runs for about 2 hours during the live shows. So should the BBC drop 30minutes of SCD to match X factor.

Any news on what the Britannia High live spectacular got?

The last half hour got 1.3m looking at the breakdown, so it's probably looking at 1.1-1.2m overall.

Looks like it got around 1.3 !

Oh well that's it axed.

About 1.3m looking at the above figures

Now all the Saturday and Sunday night fun and games have finished, I wonder what will be discussed next week, next Saturday's schedule is looking much more mundane

Weakest Link special v Foyles War!

Not a great night for ITV1 then, compared to how reasonably well BBC1 held up last Saturday. Top show can only manage 4.8m, and you could argue (given that Mr & Mrs had a 20% share to Hole in the Wall's 25%) that BBC1 had all of the top 10 shows yesterday. That is some performance, even on Christmas Day it never does better than 8 or 9 possibly.

TV Burp has proved that it cannot pull an audience without the support of TXF, 4.4m being a very poor figure. And I'd have thought One Night Only could have managed better than 2.7m with the BBC schedule running late.

Interesting to see HITW hit new heights, and without being boosted by people just waiting for SCD to start.

Yeah, there's always a week where BBC1 and ITV pretend it's 1997 and both get around 3 million viewers each.

Strictly did very well indeed, as did Outnumbered, which came on at 22.13, so probably got about 6.4 looking at the breakdowns.

Mr and Mrs will break 5m in the officials, which ITV should be pleased with, especially considering that it was completely over 5m against Casualty.

Harry Hill did badly, as expected, but its OK considering the competition.

BBC1 did well last night and looks like ITV just collapsed with The X Factor.
Outnumbered and Casualty are the big winners of the night, having a major boost after some terrible ratings. It should boost the ratings for the next few episodes of each now

I think this, btw, is one of the most astonishing ratings statistics of 2008:


I know TXF got a 60% peak last week, but I'm pretty sure BBC1 held up a damned sight better than that.

1.4m, a 6% share and third place in prime time on a Saturday, a week after pulling 13m in the same slot.

TV Burp is repeated this week on Monday at 8pm, so should probably get the same figure again there and double it's reach

I'm surprised Outtake TV did so well

Horrid night for ITV.

Peaktime Shares (estimate) from 18:00 to 23:00
BBC One - 38.85%
ITV1 - 12.6%
BBC Two - 8.16%
Channel 4 - 4.59%
five - 4.52%

Is outnumbered now the 2nd most watched comedy of the year?