More young people are watching Planet Earth II than The X Factor

Sir David Attenborough has said he is ‘enormously’ pleased after it was revealed that Planet Earth II is consistently beating The X Factor among young viewers.

The BBC has confirmed that the first three episodes of the hugely anticipated episodes of the nature series has attracted more viewers aged 16-34 than The X Factor – with 1.8 million young viewers tuning in to watch the show’s second episode – comfortably beating the 1.4 million who tuned into The X Factor.

But Attenborough has now hailed the show’s advancements in technology for bringing in new viewers, and spoke of his joy at its success.

‘I’m told that we are attracting a larger than normal number of younger viewers and apparently the music of Hans Zimmer in particular is striking a chord’, he told The Radio Times.

‘That pleases me enormously.’

But away from the show’s spectacular cinematography, the iconic naturalist also said that people were ‘reconnecting with a planet whose beauty is blemished and whose health is failing’.

In a recent interview, producer Mike Gunston also spoke about how viewers were drawn in by the first-person perspective offered by the show.

‘Visually, where Planet Earth took an almost God-like perspective and said “Let’s look down on the Earth and see the scale of the planet”, what Planet Earth II is doing is saying ‘Let’s get ourselves into the lives of the animals, and see it from their perspective,’ he said.

Planet Earth II returns at 8PM on Sunday on BBC One.