ITV1 hits lowest ever rating

ITV slumped to what is thought to be its lowest rating in its 47-year history with only 300,000 viewers for half an hour on Saturday afternoon when BBC1 was showing the Grand National.

The record low came during the final 15 minutes of ITV1's British Ice Hockey, from 3.30pm, and the opening 15 minutes of The Goal Rush. For the half hour up to 4pm, ITV1 managed just 300,000 viewers and a three per cent audience share, according to unofficial figures.

During that period ITV1 found itself in the rare position of being the least watched off all the five terrestrial networks.

The station, which was launched in 1955 and has been considered invincible, was even beaten by the five-year-old Channel 5, which was screening an omnibus of Home And Away to an audience of 400,000. Channel 4 did more than twice as well as ITV with ratings of 800,000 for Forever Amber, a Forties B-movie.

BBC2, which was showing another sporting treasure - the end of the Six Nations match between Scotland and Wales, got three times as many viewers as ITV1 with an audience of 900,000. Saturday's dip will have been a reminder to the ITV director of channels, David Liddiment, that ITV1 is not the impregnable ratings giant it once was.

But Paul Tyrell, head of publicity for ITV, said: "This was a 15-minute period on a Saturday afternoon when the Grand National was on. It's hardly reflective of the competitiveness of the station."

Last year for the first time BBC1 got a higher share of annual viewing than ITV1. The slump on Saturday afternoon highlights the fact that daytime remains ITV1's achilles heel.

Last month the broadcaster averaged 1.4 million viewers and a 17 per cent audience share in the 3.30pm to 4pm slot on Saturday afternoon, with a mix of film repeats, TV gaffes shows and live Grand Prix qualifying.

In the 15 minutes prior to the start of the Grand National at 3.45pm on BBC1, 5.7 million were watching - a 56 per cent audience share.

Then for the first 15 minutes of the race, 8.5 million - 71 per cent of those watching TV at that time - were tuned to BBC1.

Last year the race drew 10 million viewers between 3.45pm and 4pm on Sunday, although with a slightly lower audience share of 66 per cent.

ITV1 had 1.1 million viewers, a nine per cent audience share, watching Smokey And The Bandit 2 during the same period a year ago.