ITV figures prosper at Royal Ascot but Sky Sports debut struggles to compete

ITV's average audience across the five days of Royal Ascot rose by 19 per cent from last year to 859,000.

This year's figures were roughly equivalent to those that watched the broadcaster's coverage in 2017, and 58 per cent bigger than that posted by Channel 4 the year before.

ITV's average peak viewing figure for Royal Ascot this year, when they broadcast all 30 races, was up 28 per cent from 2018 at 1.25 million.

ITV's 19 per cent increase equates to year on year main channel output. In 2018 Thursday's coverage was aired on ITV4 due to the World Cup.

Frankie Dettori's heroics at Ascot on Thursday this year helped contribute to the best viewing figures for any day at the royal meeting for seven years, with ITV reporting a peak of 1,402,000 people witnessing the top rider's exploits.

Dettori stole the show on day three, partnering the card's first four winners, which included the afternoon's highlight on Gold Cup star Stradivarius, producing an audience share of 13.9 per cent, which means that amount of people watching television when ITV was broadcasting were glued to the charismatic Italian.

ITV also achieved the highest opening day Ascot figures since the prestigious fixture was last televised by the BBC, averaging 887,000 viewers, equivalent to a 12.2 per cent audience share, and with a 1,186,000 peak, according to ratings service Barb.

Screen star: the camera loves Frankie DettoriCredit: Edward Whitaker

Sky Sports Racing declined to publish viewing figures for their maiden Royal Ascot broadcast.

But the Racing Post understands Barb recorded a Tuesday peak of 57,000, averaging 25,000 viewers against ITV's 887,000 over the four and a half hours when both were producing live afternoon output.

That was followed by peaks of 67,500 and 66,200 on Wednesday and Thursday when ITV claimed 1,229,000 and 1,402,000.

Sky Sports Racing this year replaced Racing TV's predecessor Racing UK as an Ascot partner, a move that infuriated ITV.

Nick Smith, Ascot's director of racing and communications, said: "The viewing figures on ITV were great, and editorially from what I've seen and from the feedback I've had, it's been extremely well received, and the same with Sky Sports Racing."

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