Morning:
8°c
X Factor live heat attracts 14m viewers
12 Oct 2009The first of this year's X Factor live heats was seen by as many viewers as last year's final, figures showed today.
Last night's show, in which ex-strippers Kandy Rain became the series' first rejects, was seen by 14.6 million viewers at its peak - matching the peak figure for the 2008 finale.
Overall the ITV1 show had an average of 13 million viewers, which was a colossal five million more than the equivalent live heat last year.
Show bosses have moved the exit shows to Sunday nights instead of the Saturday night ejections which have taken place until now so they no longer go head to head with BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing.
The one-hour programme last night drew 46% of the TV audience at its audience peak.
It follows Saturday's programme - in which the 12 finalists gave their performances - which had a 12.8 million peak.
The network's website itv.com also attracted two million video views over the weekend - double that of the previous weekend.
ITV said the latest series is the most popular X Factor yet.
Elaine Bedell, ITV's director of entertainment and comedy, said: "In its sixth series, this year's The X Factor continues to be more popular than ever, despite a particularly competitive weekend schedule.
"Across all of our platforms, whether it's ITV1, ITV2 or itv.com, the show continues to go from strength to strength."
