X Factor advertisers lose audience to Strictly

by Staff, campaignlive.co.uk, 26 October 2009, 09:40am

LONDON - The X Factor is losing up to 2.4 million viewers to the BBC during ad breaks, thanks to the scheduling of Strictly Come Dancing next to the ITV talent show.

Tony Davidson and Kim Papworth

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The X Factor...losing ad break audience to Strictly

Figures show that during Saturday's The X Factor ad breaks, viewers switched over to the BBC in droves, before returning once the ads were over.

At 8.10pm, 11.4 million viewers were watching The X Factor, dropping to 9.3 million during the 8.15pm ad break.

The ITV audience climbed back to 12.2 million, but dropped again to 9.8 million during the 8.35pm ad break.

However, ITV said that the reaching a figure of close to 10 million viewers during ad breaks was a strong performance.

The BBC announced last week that it would move Strictly Come Dancing back ten minutes, reducing the overlap between the two shows to 45 minutes.

An ITV spokesman said: "We’re delighted that over 13 million viewers watched Saturday night’s The X Factor on ITV1. Despite a competitive schedule the show continues to go from strength to strength, with audience figures for this year’s series the highest ever - up 19 percent on 2008."

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All Comments

Troy Kennedy - 26 October 2009

Another prime example to highlight the traditional ad-break model is breaking.

Ian Darby - 26 October 2009

Or that the BBC should be banned from launching "me too" shows scheduled to cause maximum damage to commercial rivals who need all the help they can get in an unfairly balanced UK TV economy.

TESS ALPS - 26 October 2009

@Troy. This shows nothing of the sort. Ever since we have had minute by minute ratings from BARB, we have known that viewing dips in ad breaks. Advertisers in the UK only pay for the people who actually see the ads, which is a more rigorous metric than for any other medium, including online display.

The story could just as easily have chosen to say an astonishing 9m watched watched the ad break live, but that would require people to look down the other end of the telescope.

And Ian, it's not just advertisers who would be happier if the BBC stopped going head to head; viewers would appreciate it too. Having said that, commercial TV has commercial impacts coming out of its ears at the moment - 30% higher than 10 years ago - so should we in fact be thanking the BBC?