Talent shows fail to inspire the viewers

BBC1's latest talent show, DanceX, made something of an inauspicious start on Saturday with 4.8m viewers (32.1%) but it easily had the advantage over ITV1's struggling Sing it Back.

The corporation's new seven-part series kicked off in a 6.55pm slot on 14 July. It saw its audience grow substantially from 4.2m (29.3%) to 5.4m (34.1%) over the hour it was on air.

It couldn't match the channel's slot average for the year which currently stands at 5.4m (27.9%). But its audience share was up on the slot average.

BBC1 had a clear lead over ITV1 as Sing it Back had a tough time in the earlier slot of 6.40pm.

Sing for your supper

The second instalment of the singing competition where contestants compete to win a holiday could only interest 1.9m (13.1%). The audience for Sing it Back was some way off ITV1's slot average for the year so far of 4.8m (22.4%).

The opening edition of the three-part series last week (7 July) picked up a more respectable audience of 3.2m (17.3%) in the later 8.30pm time slot.

BBC1 kept up pressure on ITV1 with the national lottery show at 7.55pm on 5m (31%) for 15-minutes. This was followed by Casualty at 8.10pm on 5.4m (30.4%). Despite beating the competition, it was the long-running drama's second worst Saturday performance ever.

BBC1's audience fell off sharply at 9pm with the fourth part of its drama Jekyll taking just 2.8m (14.2%).

Losing viewers

The drama, starring James Nesbitt, has lost 2.4m viewers since the programme launched four weeks ago. BBC1 didn't fair much better at 9.55pm as Would I Lie to You? managed 3m (16.1%).

ITV1's audience gained a boost later on in peaktime. Long running game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? at 8.10pm got 3.9m (21.4%). This was followed by boxing coverage which won over 3.6m (29.7%) for two hours from 9.10pm.

The highlight was Amir Khan's bout against Willie Limond. The coverage hit a high of 4.5m (23%) over 15-mintues from 9.45pm. The entire fight, which ran from 9.25pm to 10pm, averaged 4.1m (21%).

US and them

Five managed a respectable Saturday night showing thanks to a strong line-up involving some of its key US acquisitions.

The third series of CSI: NY came to a close at 9pm with a respectable 2.6m (13.1%). It just gained the edge over BBC2's Coast which picked up 2.5m (12.8%) in the same 60-minute slot.

Channel 4's Bollywood film Bride and Prejudice drew 1.6m (8.8%) for just over two hours from 9pm.

All hours shares for Saturday 14 July 2007: BBC1 – 22.7%, ITV1 – 13.7%, BBC2 – 8.3%, C4 – 7.3%, Five – 6.1%, multichannel – 41.6%.

Peaktime (6pm to 10.30pm) shares: BBC1 – 24%, ITV1 – 17.9%, BBC2 – 9.5%, C4 -7.1%, Five – 8.3%, multichannel – 33.2%.

Source: Broadcast Now