Strictly dances off with Saturday X Factor ratings

According to unofficial overnight figures, ‘Downton Abbey’ garnered an average audience of 9.46 million viewers between 9pm and 10pm on ITV1 and ITV1 HD last night, a 36.3% share and the highest rating show of the day. An additional 344,700 watched the period drama on ITV1 +1.

In good news for ITV, last year the equivalent episode of ‘Downton Abbey’ had an average audience of 9.04 million viewers on ITV1 and ITV1 HD, a 33.8% share, and an additional 280,500 viewers on ITV1+1.

‘The X Factor Results’ had a peak audience of 11.4 million viewers last night across ITV1 and ITV1 HD. With ITV1+1, the peak rose to 11.7 million, the biggest audience the talent show has achieved so far this year.

Across the course of the show between 8pm and 10pm, ‘The X Factor Results’ took an average audience of 9.37 million viewers across ITV1 and ITV1 HD, a 35.3% share. An additional 253,800 watched on ITV1+1.

‘The X Factor Results’ audience was down more two million from the equivalent show in 2011, which had a peak audience of 13.5 million viewers and an average of 11.35 million, which was itself more than a million down on 2010 audience levels.

Also on Sunday night ‘Strictly Come Dancing: The Results’ danced off with an average audience of 8.06 million viewers between 6.45pm and 7.20pm on BBC One and BBC One HD, a 32.5% share.

BBC One’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ recorded an average audience of 9.91 million viewers between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on Saturday, a 43.5% share. Strictly's audience was 800,000 more than the same week last year and beat ‘The X Factor’ by the biggest margin for six years.

On Saturday night the second live ‘The X Factor’ was watched by a peak audience of 9.9 million across ITV1 and ITV1 HD, down two million from a peak of 11.9 million during the same episode of 2011.

‘The X Factor’ had an average audience of 8.52 million viewers, a 35.8% share, between 8.15pm and 10.30pm across ITV1 and ITV1 HD on Saturday night. An additional 324,000 viewers watched the show on ITV1+1.