The figures dampen some of the results announced at ITV company Granada's interim results presentations this morning, when chairman Charles Allen hailed the success of shows such as 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here', 'Living with Michael Jackson' and the investigation into the 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' fraud, and said that the "ITV fightback is under way".
Shows such as these drew huge audiences for ITV, with more than 13m tuning in for the finale of 'I'm a Celebrity', 17m watching the 'Millionaire' fraud trial, and 14m watching the Michael Jackson interview.
The year-to-date ratings for ITV compare with figures for BBC One, which has put on share to hit 26.1%, up from 25.3% last year.
However, ITV has stretched its peak-time lead over BBC One so far this year to 5.2 share points from 3.6 points last time.
ITV1 has also closed the gap on BBC One for the first quarter of the year, according to figures from the Independent Television Commission released last week.
ITV1's audience share grew to 25.5% from 24.3%, while BBC One's share was 26.7%, up from 26.4% last time.
Allen said at the presentation yesterday morning, when Granada reported profits before tax up 35% to £65m, that the company is working to attract greater audiences and to market the value of the channels to advertisers more effectively.
He said that ITV's cumulative share of impacts, which measures how many people watch advertisements and is used as currency in airtime sales, was 44.4%.
"Within ITV, we are working hard to attract greater audiences and to market the value of the channels to advertisers more effectively," Allen said.
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