Vote 2005: Saturday's news ratings

Each day during the election campaign, Digital Spy will be tracking the performance of the major news broadcasters. Check in daily for a roundup of the latest ratings for the terrestrial news programmes and the rolling news channels.

Overnight data for Saturday, April 30 follows.

Terrestrials: Summary

The BBC's 9.55pm bulletin ranked as the most-watched national news programme of the day with an average of 3.66 million viewers (18.3%) over 25 minutes.

ITV1's top news audience was 1.86 million (16%) for an early evening bulletin at 5.15pm.

News Channels: Summary

Both news networks ran a close race throughout the daytime but ultimately News 24 came out on top with an average of 44,000 viewers (0.83%) between 10am and 7pm. Sky held 40,000 (0.73%) over the same period.

The BBC was particularly on form in the morning hours, with a peak audience of 105,000 (2.41%) for the 9am hour of Weekend 24.

Sky's top figure was 117,000 (2.59%) for a 9.30am Michael Jackson Trial update.

News channels: Primetime Breakdown

7pm - 8pm
Sky News (Michael Jackson Trial): 53,000 (0.43%)
News 24: 28,000 (0.23%)

8pm - 9pm
Sky News: 21,000 (0.16%)
News 24 (BBC News / Click Online): 30,000 (0.23%)

9pm - 10pm
Sky News (Nine O'Clock News / Sky News): 21,000 (0.16%)
News 24 (BBC News / The Record Europe): 24,000 (0.17%)

10pm - 11pm
Sky News (Sky News At Ten / Sky News): 17,000 (0.14%)
News 24 (BBC News / Talking Movies): 45,000 (0.36%)

11pm - 12am
Sky News (The Boulton Factor): 67,000 (0.79%)
News 24 (BBC News / Hardtalk): 59,000 (0.69%)

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com