The first outing for the BBC’s answer to the Brits, the BBC Music Awards on BBC1, was watched by fewer than 4 million viewers, less than its ITV rival.

BBC1’s two-hour awards show hosted by Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton, dubbed a musical equivalent of the Sports Personality of the Year show and part of the BBC’s efforts to up its game in music across TV and radio, had 3.9 million viewers, an 18.3% share of the audience from 8pm.

It was less than the 4.6 million viewers who tuned in to the last Brit awards, on ITV in February, which was itself a low audience for any live broadcast of the ceremony.

The BBC pulled out all the stops in promoting its inaugural awards, which saw wins for Ed Sheeran and Pharrell Williams and was simulcast on Radio 1 and Radio 2.

It was up against an ITV line-up including Emmerdale, which had 5.5 million viewers (26.5%) from 8pm, and the conclusion of two-part drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, which had 3 million viewers (15%) from 9pm.

Almost stopped falling

The penultimate episode of BBC2’s Gillian Anderson drama The Fall had 2.1 million viewers on BBC2 from 9pm.

It was just ahead of Channel 4’s 24 Hours in A&E, which had 2 million viewers (9.2%). It was followed by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s police comedy drama Babylon, which could only manage 390,000 viewers; a 2.5% share.

All ratings are Barb overnight figures, including live, +1 (except for BBC channels) and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, or other – unless otherwise stated. Figures for BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 generally include ratings for their HD simulcast services, unless otherwise stated

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