BBC
One’s election night programme took the lion’s share of the audience on
5 May – peaking at six million viewers for the Sunderland South
declaration at 10.45pm.
From 10pm-2am it had an average of 4.3
million viewers, or an audience share of 35 per cent. The programme
drew on 70 outside broadcasts in England, Wales and Scotland, with 300
cameras deployed on the night.
Despite trailing the BBC, ITV’s audience was slightly up on the 2001 election.
From
10pm-6am its average audience was 1.12m, a one per cent increase on
four years ago. An ITV spokeswoman said: “We’re extremely pleased with
our election night programme.
Our election party was also a great
success with Lady Thatcher (pictured)n making a special appearance and
giving her first interview in years.”
Sky News had a 1.06 per
cent viewing share, compared with 0.82 per cent for BBC News 24 and
0.20 per cent for the ITV News Channel.
Sky News peaked from
10.45pm- 11pm with 219,000 viewers and a 1.77 per cent share, while BBC
News 24 peaked between 9pm and 9.15pm with 158,000 viewers and a 1.07
per cent share. All three channels improved on the 2001 election night.
Four
years ago, Sky News’s average share was 0.89 per cent, compared with
0.44 per cent for BBC News 24 and 0.06 per cent for ITV News.
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