Around 1 million viewers tuned in for the start of the new 24 on Sky One last Thursday, early ratings figures show.

The extended premiere episode, which went out from 9pm, averaged some 968,340 viewers and a 7.03% share of the audience in multichannel homes.

The figures are significant for a Sky One show but less than executives would have been hoping for given the amount of advertising behind its launch.

Overall on Thursday, 24 only managed a number three ranking amongst the multichannel audience, beaten by a new episode of Friends on E4 with 1.25 million (8.8%) and ITV2's I'm a Celebrity… Coming Out, which had a 1.1 million (13.2%) average.

Sky One's other new drama series, Jake 2.0, put in a solid 856,470 (6.21%) in the 8pm hour.