
Published: Wed 12 Dec 2018
ITV main channel is having its highest share of viewing in nearly a decade, consolidated data reveals
Consolidated figures for ITVs main channel (for January-November 2018) released this week show that ITV is having its highest year to date share of viewing in nearly a decade, in what is its third consecutive year of audience share growth.
ITV is the only PSB main channel and family of channels to have grown share year on year in 2018.
Kevin Lygo, ITVs Director of Television said:
2018 has been a fantastic year for us - England's World Cup clashes on ITV and Love Island were the most talked about TV of the summer, and this autumn, I'm a Celebrity has broken records in what is its 18th series. All three have brought in huge audiences, including amongst younger viewers, who have been watching these shows in their millions. ITV's trend busting performance in 2018 is also a story about every aspect of our schedule working harder, and the amazing teams who work on our soaps, our entertainment shows, our daily daytime programmes and quizzes - who continue to deliver talked about TV that stands out in the schedule. And in this world of hundreds of content choices, we have also launched new shows and in 2018 we've grown our share of viewing to become the most watched channel for 16-34s, and the most watched channel in peak time for the first time since 2013 .
The share of viewing increase has been driven by strong performances across the schedule.
I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! had its highest ever launch in 2018, in the programme's 18th series, with 13.7 million viewers based on consolidated data. I'm A Celebrity has built on the success of other ratings hits for ITV's family of channels in 2018, including Saturday Night Takeaway, and Vera, which also averaged their highest ratings ever this year. ITV's World Cup coverage, which included Englands semi-final against Croatia, became the most watched football match on a single channel ever with an average audience of 24.3million viewers from kick off until final whistle, and This Morning achieved its most watched episode since records go back, with its coverage of HRH Princess Eugenie's Wedding consolidating at 3.2million viewers.
The Voice returned in 2018 with a new coach, Olly Murs, joining Tom Jones, Will i am and Jennifer Hudson, and was up year on year by 300k viewers and 3.5 share points. A fantastic week of Britain's Got Talent live shows were rounded off by 10 million viewers watching Lost Voice Guy become the first comedian to win Britain's Got Talent.
Entertainment shows Dancing on Ice and Who Wants to be a Millionaire delivered slot boosting performances and factual hits included The Queen's Green Planet averaging 6.4 million viewers and a 25.3% share, making it ITVs highest audience for a factual programme this year, and new series Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip which pulled in 5.1million viewers and a 22.5% share, achieved the highest volume for any factual series on ITV since Long Lost Family in the summer of 2013.
ITV's News at Ten bulletin has delivered its highest average share since 2011; the only news bulletin to grow in this slot, and ITV's Early Evening News programme is the only early evening news programme to achieve volume growth, year on year.
ITV had stand out success with stripped drama series, including Trauma starring Adrian Lester and John Simm, and Innocent starring Lee Ingleby and Hermione Norris, which are two out of the three highest rating new drama series on TV this year, based on seven day consolidated data.
Event driven scheduling has also boosted ITV's share year on year, with highlights including The British Soap Awards live, Soccer Aid for Unicef, The Grand National, and of course The World Cup, ITV showed the two most watched games of the whole tournament. England v Colombia averaged 20.1million viewers across the match with 24.4million at its peak as Eric Dier scored the winning penalty. Englands semi-final against Croatia became the most watched football match on a single channel ever, and during extra-time, the match had a peak of 26.6million viewers. This rises to 27.5million if you include non-TV viewing making it the most watched TV event since 1997. ITV main channel had the highest average match audience (7.3million viewers) of the two broadcasters, and this average was up on ITVs matches in 2014 by 1.2million viewers.
In 2018 ITV was the home of the two most watched soaps for the first time since records go back, with Coronation Street on top, and Emmerdale moving up into second place. Highlights included Emmerdale enjoying its highest weekly share since Camerons siege in the Woolpack back in 2013, for the week this May that included Charity's flashback episode, which averaged a 38% share across its five episodes. For Coronation Street highlights include Good Fridays 8:30pm episode scoring the highest rating in this slot in more than 4 years when 9.4million viewers tuned in to see Phelan confess his string of crimes to Eileen at the lighthouse. Across that week, Coronation Street delivered an impressive 40% share among 16-34s, the soap's highest share for this demographic since just before the tram crash in 2010. On top of this, Aidan's suicide storyline bought in our highest share among Men 16-34 since 2004 (53%) and we also recorded our strongest share for this 9pm stripped week since 2013.
Good Morning Britain continues to grow in share and so far in 2018 is averaging an 18.7% share, with eight out of the ten best ever Good Morning Britain shares falling within 2018. Lorraine is averaging an 18.0% share of viewing and Loose Women 13.9%, for both the best share performance since 2013.
The Chase has had its best year ever in both share and volume. Weekday teatime episodes
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
08/05/2026
NBC's 9:16 live-production workflows power Courtside Live, Rinkside Live, Vi...
08/05/2026
Native 1080p HDR productions will rely on a mix of remote workflows from Bristol and Los Angeles
Despite another prosperous WNBA season in 2025, there was no g...
08/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
08/05/2026
Players Era, an EverWonder Studio company, and ESPN have announced a multi-year ...
08/05/2026
BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) has announced the selection of Syname...
08/05/2026
UFC and Joe Hand Promotions, UFC's exclusive commercial distributor in the U...
08/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, has announced it has been granted US Patent No. 12,556,777 for its graphical overlay technology for interactive live streaming. Th...
08/05/2026
Ateme has announced that VTVcab has deployed Ateme's OTT platform to power its VTVprime streaming service in Vietnam. The deployment covers live and on-dema...
08/05/2026
Amagi has announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering via the Amagi ADS PLUS marketplace, providing programmatic access to ad formats inserted dir...
08/05/2026
Young broadcaster will deploy 11-camera complement, At the Line' scorebug f...
08/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
08/05/2026
FOX Sports, America's English-language home for the FIFA World Cup 2026, and...
08/05/2026
Molly Gordon and Ben Platt appear in Theater Camp. (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)
By Lucy Spicer
Her character is the beloved founder of the AdirondACTS...
08/05/2026
One-button synth generates random four-track ideas
Cyma Forma and French artist Bambounou have announced RND synth, a compact hardware synthesizer built aro...
08/05/2026
Portable four-layer granular and sampling instrument
Tasty Chips have announced the GR-2, a new granular synthesizer and sampling instrument that combines e...
08/05/2026
Video Show Report
Video of SUPERBOOTH 26: Polyend Drums
Polyends big announcement for Superbooth 2026 is the Drums, a new drum machine that features both ...
08/05/2026
Deal agreed as NI enters new chapter
Native Instruments CEO Nick Williams has announced that a definitive agreement has been signed for the company to be ac...
08/05/2026
Video Show Report
Video of SUPERBOOTH 26: Erica Bullfrog Drums
The Bullfrog Drums is the latest collaboration between Erica Synths and Richie Hawtin, and ...
08/05/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson reflects on the recent launch of Play Snooker, the new digital home of snooker by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker A...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Riedel Communications today announced its return as a sponsor of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, where the company will serve as the Official Connectivity ...
08/05/2026
For the second straight year, Miri Technologies Inc. has been honored with a pair of coveted awards at the broadcast, media and entertainment industry's pre...
08/05/2026
Nine Alumni Nominated for Tony Awards More than 20 alumni contributed to this year's Tony-nominated productions.
May 7, 2026
By
Tori Donahue
Boston Co...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/05/2026
Liberty University on why broadcast technology isn't just a technical invest...
08/05/2026
COW Jobs: UGC, On-Camera Video Content
Brie Clayton May 7, 2026
0 Comments
UGC, On-Camera Video Content
April 17, 2026Documentary Editor - US,......
08/05/2026
Wuppertal May 8, 2026
Riedel to Support Glasgow 2026 as Official Connectivity Integration Provider Riedel Communications today announced its return as a spons...
08/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Announces Standalone Sequel to Global Hit La Palma
Entertainment
08 May 2026
GlobalDenmarkFinlandNorwaySweden
Link copied to clipb...
08/05/2026
ICG is excited to share news of our official launch in Northern Ireland, marking a significant milestone in the agency's growth.
Led by Digital Marketing M...
08/05/2026
Over the past ten years, Thames Water, in partnership with Arqiva, has installed more than 1.2 million smart meters, creating one of the most extensive advanced...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...