Strictly 2024’s first live show sees viewing figures hit all-time low
Strictly Come Dancing had its first live show of 2024 this week, and the viewing figures showed that less fans than ever tuned in for the initial airing.
The episode managed a peak of 6.7 million viewers as it took place on Saturday (September 21) night, the lowest-ever figure for a week 1 show.
In contrast, last year's first live show had a 7.3 million peak, 2018 and 2020 both peaked with at least 10 million, while 2019 peaked with 8.5 million.
However, the September 21 episode was still 1 million on-broadcast viewers up from the previous week's pre-taped launch show.
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In addition to general trends away from the traditional broadcasters and linear TV (iPlayer catchup numbers are incredibly important in determining a show's success), this year's series has been dogged by controversy in the last few months with both Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima not returning.
In the first week of the competition, JLS star JB Gill and Amy Dowden topped the leaderboard with 31 points, with both Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola, and Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec hot on their heels with 30 points.
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As it was the first week, there was no public vote to send someone home. This week's scores will be combined with the current scores, and viewer voting will open.
Strictly Come Dancing will return on Saturday, September 14 on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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