The talent show, hosted by Patrick Kielty and Claudia Winkleman, saw its audience fluctuate while it was on air. Saturday's show started with 3.9 million (24.1%) and managed to build to a peak of 5 million (25.6%) at 6.40pm. But then saw its audience drop off and ended with 3.6 million (17.1%) in the final 15-minutes from 7pm.
The charity talent show was down by 1 million viewers compared to the channel's slot average for last year of 5.5 million (30%).
The opening show was also down on the opening edition of the previous series in 2005 when it averaged 5.7 million (27.4%) on 26 February in a 6.15pm slot. The entire series that year averaged 6.4 million (28.1%) with a series high of 8.2 million (35.7%) in March in a much more viewer-friendly slot of 8.45pm.
BBC1 found itself trailing ITV1's entertainment shows on Saturday. The long-running All New You've Been Framedat 5.55pm interested 4.8 million (28.9%), which was followed by Harry Hill's TV Burpon 5.2 million (27.4%) at 6.25pm.
Fame Academy was also hit by a strong performance from ITV1's Dancing on Icewhich started at 6.55pm. The 60-minute talent show averaged a sizeable 8.8 million (40.8%), equalling its highest audience of its current run.
ITV1's audience dropped off for the fourth part of its high-profile drama series Primeval. The hour-long episode at 7.55pm attracted 5.5 million (23.9%), its lowest audience of the series so far. The show has lost a million viewers since its launch when it attracted 6.5 million (28.1%).
Primeval faced an up-hill struggle though as it was scheduled, largely, against BBC1's ever-popular Casualtywhich attracted 6.4 million (27.8%) at 8.15pm.
ITV1 though fought back at 8.55pm with the final of PokerFacedrawing 6.3 million (28%), which contributed to BBC1's Fame Academyresults show drawing just 4.1 million (18.4%) at 9.05pm. The corporation's audience slipped even further at 9.35pm as a repeat of The Vicar of Dibleyamused 3.6 million (16.5%).
The results show of Dancing on Iceat 9.55pm had 6.7 million (31.3%).
Gimme Five
Despite the dominance of both ITV1 and BBC1, Five managed a strong peaktime performance on Saturday with a share of 8.5%, well above its nearest rivals. BBC2 struggled on 5% while Channel 4 took just 6.7%.
Five's early evening movie Godzillaattracted 1.6 million (7.8%) while CSI: NYat 9.35pm performed strongly with 2.5 million (11.9%).
C4 had a new look to its Saturday peaktime line-up. The new series Born Survivor: Bear Grylisdrew 1.3 million at 7pm (6.2%) which was followed by the return of the satirical Bremner, Bird and Fortuneat 8pm on 1.7 million (7.5%). The three hour The 50 Greatest TV Dramasfrom 9pm appealed to 1.3 million (7.5%).
BBC2 found the going tough as The Culture Showat 7.25pm, which featured an interview with the film director David Lynch, interested just 586,000 (2.6%). The situation improved though at 8.15pm with The Comedy Map of Britainon 1.5 million (6.6%).
All hours shares for Saturday 3 March 2007: BBC1 - 30%, ITV1 - 19%, Five - 6.7%, C4 - 6.6%, BBC2 - 5.9%, multichannel - 40.2%.
Peaktime ( 6pm to 10.30pm ) shares: ITV1 - 30.1%, BBC1 - 21.8%, Five - 8.5%, C4 - 6.7%, BBC2 - 5%, multichannel - 27.8%.
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