'Downton Abbey,' 'X Factor' Hit Ratings Highs for Current Seasons on U.K.'s ITV

LONDON - Downton Abbey and The X Factor hit season-high ratings on British network ITV1 on Sunday, according to overnight data provided by ITV. 

our editor recommends

'Downton Abbey' U.K. Ratings Drop for Second Episode of New Season

'X Factor' U.K. Auditions Spark Ofcom Investigations

Downton Abbey averaged 10 million viewers in the U.K. Sunday night, the commercial broadcaster said Monday. The figure includes live viewers at 9pm and people who watched the show with a delay of one hour on catch-up network ITV1+1.

The figure was up from 8.6 million viewers the previous Sunday and an average audience of 9 million, when including ITV1+1, two weekends ago when the popular costume drama's third season debuted. Last Sunday's peak audience for Downton Abbey hit 9.3 million. At the same point last season, the show drew more than 9 million viewers.

Some industry observers highlighted on Monday that the Sunday ratings for Downton Abbey are the show's third-highest ever in the U.K.

The show's lead-in once again was Simon Cowell's X Factor, whose judges houses episode again made it the most watched show of Sunday in Britain with 9.8 million average viewers including ITV1+1, up from 9.4 million a week earlier. The music competition peaked with 11.2 million, up from 10.8 million viewers the previous Sunday.

At the same stage last year, the show averaged 12.1 million, according to the Guardian.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai