'X Factor' is tops on Saturday

The second series of The X Factor is shaping up to be another mammoth hit.

Saturday night's third episode was watched by an average of 7.57 million viewers, a 44.1% share of the TV audience. The figures are up from 6.8 million (34.6%) for the equivalent episode last year and also up from last week's 7.23 million (40.4%).

Once again the success carried over to multichannel homes, with an average of 1.51 million (11.2%) tuning in for ITV2 spinoff The Xtra Factor.

Other big hitters on Saturday night included a repeat of My Family, which had 5.07 million (25.5%) to rank fourth for the day, and a 'Cops and Robbers' themed Millionaire, with 4.42 million (22.6%) and fifth place.

Five hit a peak audience of 2.79 million (14.2%) for a 9pm repeat of CSI, compared to Channel 4's 1.57 million (10%) for the three-hour countdown The Ultimate Film.

Sky Sports' coverage of the Wales-England World Cup qualifier had 1.67 million (26.7%) from 2pm, with the proceeding game between Scotland and Italy drawing 986,000 (10.2%).

Sky Movies enjoyed a strong night, with an audience of 314,000 (2.5%) for the premiere of Spider-Man 2. At least 356,000 more caught the film via multistart on Sky Movies 3.