The BBC shed two million viewers on election night versus its 2019 coverage, with Channel 4 one of the big winners from a hotly contested night of broadcasting.
Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie were handed the presenting duties following Huw Edwards’ departure from the channel, with 4.2 million viewers tuning in between 10pm and 11pm on Thursday to see the exit poll.
The figure is down almost two million on 2019, when 6.1 million people tuned in.
ITV’s audience for election night was also down, with 1.3 million people watching its broadcast compared to 2.3 million at the last election.
Channel 4 was the night’s success story, with 930,000 viewers – almost double the 466,000 who tuned in for the last election.
Election night TV ratings
- BBC1: 2.9 million (37 per cent)
- ITV: 836,000 (10.7 per cent)
- Channel 4: 662,000 (8.5 per cent)
- Sky News: 372,000 (4.8 per cent)
- BBC News: 231,000 (2.9 per cent)
- GB News: 86,000 (1.1 per cent)
Early on in the BBC’s coverage, Myrie quizzed Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, about the exit poll results.
She said she did not want to “count the chickens”, referring to the election results not having come in yet.
Responding, Myrie said: “You say you are not counting your chickens. What kind of chickens might they be? What kind of chickens would you like to see?”
On Channel 4, Emily Maitlis and Krishnan Guru-Murthy anchored the coverage.
The guest list included Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, who host The Rest Is Politics podcast, plus Nadine Dorries and Carol Vorderman.
Dorries, a former Tory MP, who served as culture secretary under Boris Johnson, got into a heated debate with Mr Campbell during the programme.
You can watch the clip in full below:
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