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The channel picked up an average of 0.2% of viewers in multi-channel homes between 8pm and 11pm, according to figures from TV measurement body Barb.

Five Life's last show of its first night, the debut for new Australian drama Love My Way, scored the biggest ratings of the night - 49,000 viewers - and a 0.3% share in multi-channel homes.

Not helped by going up against ITV1 heavyweight Prime Suspect and the last episode of Jane Eyre on BBC1, Five's new digital sibling also found itself ignored in the listings pages of many national newspapers.

Life also had to contend with its position as channel number 209 on the Sky Electronic Programme Guide, and the fact that many Freeview households did not realise that in order to receive the channel, they had to retune set top boxes.

Five was hoping for better last night (Monday) with the launch of American-themed channel, Five US (at 207 on the Sky EPG), which began with Five's most successful import, Crime Scene Investigation.

A spokesman for Five said: "The time to judge both these new channels will be a few weeks or maybe even a few months down the line."

He added that Five had not known its epg number on Sky in time to encorporate it into its massive outdoor campaign but that it had been in the listings pages of several newspapers and details of how to watch the channels were on the Five website.