Martin Lewis defends BBC Strictly Come Dancing and says 'for context'
Martin Lewis has rushed to defend BBC Strictly Come Dancing over the fall in viewership it has experienced this year. BBC Sounds and ITV star Mr Lewis spoke out on Twitter, now X, over the falling viewership of the BBC favourite.
Mr Lewis wrote: "I saw the headline today about lowest ever Strictly opening ratings. I'm sure it's factually true, but it's also going to be true of most programmes 'overnights' . Terrestrial TV on the night audiences are dropping year by year, so it's tough to know what is the show anwhat the TV environment.
" For context, when my @itvmlshow started in 2012, from rough memory at best we were getting 4m viewers, just around 14% of available audience share and only just made top 100 shows of week by ratings. Last series (now live which rates much better) we were at best just below 3m but with a 20+% share of audience that usually 'won the slot' and often making the top 30 most watched programmes of the week.
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"Terrestrial TV audiences are lower across the board. Over 10m is now a huge rarity. Yet a week or two later you get the consolidated ratings which also includes catch-up and that can add a big chunk. That wasn't that common a decade or so ago.
"Ps the stats are from memory, see them as ballpark but not exact." It has been reported that figures show that at its peak, 6.7 million fans tuned in and watched the live edition on Saturday - however, the otherwise impressive figure was no match for the 2023 season which grossed 7.3 million viewers for the first live show.
BBC show bosses are now said to be concerned about the lack of interest in this years series, and according to The Sun, a TV insider said: "Strictly bosses were worried enough by the pre-recorded launch show. But the fact that the first live show saw a drop too will be of concern to them — particularly if the drop continues into next week, which is the first elimination show.
"They now face an anxious wait to see whether the drop in on-the-night viewers is made up for by an increase in fans watching Strictly on iPlayer, but those figures take days and weeks to compile. These live figures really matter to the Beeb, because Strictly is still seen as one of the few shows that provide the shared TV experience where people come together to watch a programme at a set time."