Barack Obama’s trip into the wild with adventurer Bear Grylls delivered Channel 4 its highest-rating 8pm show in the past three years.
Bear Goes Wild with Barack Obama – in reality a rather tame walk and chat about climate change followed by a snack of salmon – drew an average of 3.3 million viewers on Sunday night.
The show, which barely managed to keep the president’s secret service team out of shot during a leisurely walk to the base of a retreating Alaskan glacier, saw viewing peak at 3.7 million.
It is the highest-rating show to air at 8pm on any night of the week since Christmas Eve 2012, which saw the The Snowman and the Snowdog draw 4.9 million.
The ratings are alive with the sound of, er, viewers
Consolidated viewing, the sum of a week of those watching on-demand, will see a significant surge given it was up against ITV’s much-hyped The Sound of Music Live.
The live show, led by Kara Tointon as Maria and Downton Abbey’s Julian Ovenden as Captain von Trapp, drew an average audience of 4 million between 7.30pm and 10.05pm.
Tyson Fury pulls a split (ratings) decision at Sports Personality of the Year
BBC1’s Sports Personality of the Year was neither boosted, nor particularly harmed, by the media storm surround boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s derogatory comments about women and for criticising homosexuality and abortion.
The show, which saw Andy Murray named as SPOTY again, drew an average of 5.7 million viewers and a 26.2% share between 6.50pm and 9pm.
SPOTY, which on a busy night overlapped with ITV’s The Sound of Music Live and Channel 4’s Obama and Bear special, was 300,000 down on the 6 million that tuned in to watch Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton win last year.
The Apprentice final loses almost 1 million viewers
SPOTY was followed by the final of The Apprentice, which drew an average of 5.4 million viewers and a 26.2% share between 9pm and 11pm.
The final was won by Joseph Valente, a plumber from Peterborough, who won a £250,000 investment.
The final was well down on last year when an average of 6.2 million viewers tuned in to watch Mark Wright win.
