Nearly 10 million viewers watched BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing on the last Saturday before the return of ITV’s The X Factor.
The celebrity dance show has had a clear run on Saturday nights with ITV dropping the Simon Cowell talent show for its coverage of the Rugby World Cup.
But with host nation England knocked out at the earliest opportunity, Strictly Come Dancing has had the floor almost to itself and was watched by 9.7 million viewers, a 45.7% share of the audience from 7.30pm on Saturday.
It was neck and neck with the same stage of the competition last year, when it also had 9.7 million viewers.
It had more than double the 4 million viewers (19.5%) who watched ITV’s coverage of New Zealand’s devastating takedown of France in the World Cup quarter-final from 7.30pm.
Strictly Come Dancing was followed by Doctor Who, guest starring Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, which had 4.9 million viewers, a 23.2% share from 8.20pm.
The X Factor’s Sunday night show had 7.8 million viewers, a 31.1% share, from 7pm, a million fewer than the 8.8 million viewers (35.9%) who watched the Strictly results show on BBC1 from 7.15pm.
Year on year, the Strictly results show was down 300,000 viewers.
Year-on-year comparisons for The X Factor are trickier because the current series has not progressed as far as it had on the same weekend in 2014, when it had 7.8 million viewers for its Saturday show and 8.6 million on Sunday.
Normal service resumes this weekend, with The X Factor running on primetime ITV on Saturday and Sunday.
