
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...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
22/04/2026
Solid State Logic is advancing its System T platform with a stronger focus on IP...
22/04/2026
From immersive audio to live streaming, Dolby Laboratories is focused on the fut...
22/04/2026
Shallow depth-of-field cameras have taken the industry by storm. Its debut a han...
22/04/2026
Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) announced that Eastern Kentucky University (...
22/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
22/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine 12K LF 100G, a new model in the URSA Cine family adding 100G Ethernet for SMPTE 2110 live production output up to ...
22/04/2026
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, NEP is leaning into hybrid production with the...
22/04/2026
NEP VP, Platform Dan Murphy sits down at the 2026 NAB Show to unpack what NEP P...
22/04/2026
Spotify and the New York Liberty are teaming up to give music and basketball fan...
22/04/2026
New 20-minute documentary explores iconic design The Focusrite Room in Mesa, Arizona, where John Aquilino hosts the Studio Console 005.
In 2025, Focusrite co...
22/04/2026
Offers compact wireless solution for pedalboards
Taiwanese audio brand Cloudvocal have announced the availability of a new pedalboard-friendly wireless syst...
22/04/2026
Latest hybrid sampling/synthesis instrument arrives
Arturia's Augmented series offerings rely on a mixture of sampling and synthesis, allowing users to ...
22/04/2026
Combines three distinct analogue EQ emulations
The latest addition to Acustica Audio's ever-expanding collection of analogue-emulation plug-ins combines...
22/04/2026
Final instalment in vintage-inspired instrument series
Analog Empire: Bass & Lead marks the final instalment in Melda Production's vintage hardware-insp...
22/04/2026
Fuzz pedal joins all-analogue Series A line
Given that Strymons reputation was built on unapologetically digital pedals, it was a little surprising to see t...
22/04/2026
SBS names shortlisted brands for 2026 SBS Media Sustainability Challenge
22 April, 2026
Media releases
National broadcaster also releases its second annual...
22/04/2026
Why Low Band Electronic Warfare Matters...
22/04/2026
The nation unites around football team's World Cup dream
Warsaw, Poland, 20.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and media intell...
22/04/2026
Warsaw, Poland, 22.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data...
22/04/2026
New market intelligence offering gives businesses a clearer view of local consum...
22/04/2026
Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Ci...
22/04/2026
Lightcraft Technology to Preview Spark Story at NAB 2026 with Interactive Previs...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
22 Apr 2026
VEON's Banglalink to Bring Starlink Mobile to Customers in Bangladesh Bangladesh becomes the third market where VEON and Starlink Mobile partne...
22/04/2026
U have unveiled exclusive first-look images for their six-part police thriller Hit Point, starring Nick Blood (Day of the Jackal) and BAFTA nominee Saffron Hock...
22/04/2026
What can I watch on UKTV and stream on U this week?
This week on UKTV and the free streaming service U, viewers can watch a range of new and returning programm...
22/04/2026
Wednesday 22 April 2026
Sky announces fifth year of WNT Fund with 30,000 bursa...
22/04/2026
Back to All News
This Earth Day, Discover the Sustainable Productions Behind Our Films and Series
Emma Stewart, Ph.D.
Netflix Sustainability Officer
Enterta...
22/04/2026
The move from Retail Media to Commerce Media is about broadening the scope of th...
22/04/2026
April 22 2026, 07:00 (PDT) Dolby and BMW Bring Dolby Atmos to the BMW 7 Series,...
22/04/2026
RT Documentary On One 7-part series breaks US market for first time
RT Programme Sales has announced its first deal with a US distribution partner for its 7-...
22/04/2026
NVIDIA and Google Cloud have collaborated for more than a decade, co engineering a full stack AI platform that spans every technology layer - from performance o...
21/04/2026
Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...
21/04/2026
The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...
21/04/2026
5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...
21/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...
21/04/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...
21/04/2026
Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...
21/04/2026
Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...