Strictly Come Dancing easily bested its ITV rival, according to overnight figures
The X Factor's new celebrity-themed spin-off drew an average of 4.8 million viewers to ITV last night (12th October.)
The first episode of The X Factor: Celebrity saw Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger size up a batch of famous faces who aren't best known for their singing ability.
The show – which saw The Chase's Jenny Ryan, journalist and broadcaster Martin Bashir and Glee's Kevin McHale take part – peaked at 5.3 million and won its time slot with a 27.3% audience share. It was also the most-watched show of the night among 16 to 34-year-old viewers.
However, BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing was way ahead in terms of total viewers – with an average of 8.5 million watching (a 45.6% audience share) and a peak of 9.1 million, it was the most watched show across all channels for the night.
Strictly – which saw Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse stun the judges with a sexy rumba – did not compete with The X Factor directly, airing in an earlier 6.40pm slot.
The X Factor: Celebrity's launch figure is down on the 5.5 million who watched the final of the 2018 series, and is also lower than the figures for Cowell's Britain's Got Talent: The Champions, which launched with 5.8 million in August.
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
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