Downton Abbey loses 400,000 viewers as a result of too much advertising
ITV’s hit period drama Downton Abbey has lost around 400,000 viewers, apparently as a result of the amount of advertising being shown during it.
The programme, which is now in its second series, drew an audience of 9m viewers for the first episode of the new series, but this has now dropped to 8.7m by episode three, as a result of the amount of sponsorship and adverts being run during it, says the Daily Mail.
The final part of episode three apparently only lasted three minutes, shorted than the advertising break that preceded it.
The Daily Mail also claims that a 30 second advert would cost £100,000 to air during the programme on a Sunday evening.
An ITV spokesman said: “We followed the same pattern as other 90-minute dramas. We are a commercial broadcaster.”
The piece doesn’t include the number of people watching the programme on-demand, through ITV Player or had recorded it.