Britain’s Got Talent second audition show watched by over a million less than last year

By David Hollingsworth
( What's on TV )
published

Britain's Got Talent second audition show watched by over a million less than last year
(Image credit: ITV)

However, BGT still the big ratings winner on Saturday night

Britain's Got Talent was watched by over a million less people than watched the equivalent instalment last year – but was still comfortably the most watched show on Saturday night.

Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden were treated to a host of acts, ranging from the sublime – a singing Priest – to the ridiculous – a man spinning around a lot.

According to figures reported by Telly Mix, the second round of auditions was watched by an average audience of 7.8 million viewers – 1.4 million below 2017’s equivalent. The audience figure peaked at 9 million.

However, BGT was still miles the most popular show on Saturday evening, with The Queen’s Birthday Party shown on BBC1 at 8pm getting 3.8 million.

ITV could also point to the unusually hot weather possibly taking potential viewers away from their sofa.

However, the opening episode of the series was also down, with the launch episode attracting 8.3 million viewers against 8.7 million for the 2017 opener.

Britain’s Got Talent continues on ITV.

David Hollingsworth
David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!