Vote 2005: Wednesday'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 Wednesday, May 4 follows.

Terrestrials: Summary

BBC One's 10pm bulletin dropped back to 4.32 million (20.7%), allowing ITV's Early Evening News to rank as the most-watched national news programme of the day with 4.42 million (25.5%).

Elsewhere, the last edition of Newsnight before the election drew 1.35 million (9.5%) to BBC Two at 10.30pm.

News Channels: Summary

A close battle saw News 24 emerge slightly ahead during daytime hours (10am - 7pm) with an average of 44,000 (1.05%) versus Sky's 43,000 (1.03%).

Top audience of the day was Sky News' Michael Jackson Trial Update, which averaged 71,000 (2.63%) between 9.30am and 10am.

News channels: Primetime Breakdown

7pm - 8pm
Sky News (The Boulton Factor): 33,000 (0.27%)
News 24: 32,000 (0.26%)

8pm - 9pm
Sky News: 15,000 (0.1%)
News 24: 48,000 (0.33%)

9pm - 10pm
Sky News (Nine O'Clock News / If I Were Prime Minister): 22,000 (0.15%)
News 24: 33,000 (0.22%)

10pm - 11pm
Sky News (Sky News At Ten / Sky News): 52,000 (0.41%)
News 24 (BBC News / Business Today): 31,000 (0.23%)

11pm - 12am
Sky News (The Boulton Factor): 69,000 (0.98%)
News 24 (BBC News / Hardtalk): 47,000 (0.67%)

Ratings data supplied by ViewingFigures.com