Maggie Smith was named best supporting actress in a drama at the Emmys on Sunday, but things weren’t quite so rosy back at Downton Abbey. The second episode of the show’s new third season in the UK was 1M viewers off last season’s equivalent episode. According to overnight figures, an average 8.14M watched Sunday night’s installment, giving the ITV1 show a 30.7% share. It handily beat the competition but also fell about 600K short of its premiere last Sunday that drew 8.64M viewers. Last week it had a softer-than-normal lead-in from The X Factor, and that show was also down this week with 8.86M viewers even though Simon Cowell stopped by for a guest appearance.
‘Downton Abbey’ Ratings Down On UK’s ITV
By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday, 24 September 2012 10:55 UKTags: Downton Abbey, ITV, Ratings, The X Factor
This article was printed from http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/downton-abbey-ratings-down-in-second-episode-of-new-season/
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Great show and don,t cancel the damn thing beacuse it does not get Jersey Shore ratings. Leave something decent on tv.
Perhaps the British have become bored with the show. Remember, many of their show’s seasons are only six episodes long and only last a couple of years, at best. ‘The Office’ only produced 12 episodes – two 6-episode seasons. Same a long time ago with ‘Fawlty Towers’.
Perhaps Simon Cowell appearance is the reason for the ratings drop. Does the typical Downton viewer watch reality crap?
The ratings of shows like Downton Abbey and X Factor may be down because alot of viewers, like myself, no longer watch live TV but record to watch later in order to avoid commercial breaks.