07 May 10

Election coverage draws 6.7m

As the UK woke up this morning to a hung Parliament, early figures indicate that around 6.7m viewers followed last night’s election coverage - with BBC1 winning the biggest audience.

Viewers had the option to follow the results on BBC1, BBC HD, BBC News, BBC Parliament, ITV1 (+HD), Sky News and Sky News HD. The audience for BBC1’s coverage, simulcast on BBC HD, attracted the most viewers with a healthy 4.09m (31.1% share) between 9.55pm and 2am, according to overnight.Hosted by David Dimbleby, BBC1’s coverage peaked at 10.50pm with 5.84m (29.4%).

ITV1’s Election 2010 coverage, fronted by Alastair Stewart, averaged 1.26m (9.6%) from 9.55pm to 2am and peaked with 2.43m (10.5%) at the start. Both BBC1 and ITV1 continued to broadcast results until 6am, but the overnight data cuts off at 2am. Channel 4’s decision to take a sideways look at the election paid off, beating ITV1.