More than 10 million viewers watch first episode of Des on ITV

More than 10 million viewers watch first episode of Des on ITV

More than 10 million viewers have watched the first episode of ITV’s new drama Des in the week since it launched.

Des, featuring David Tennant as serial killer Dennis Nilsen, has been watched by 10.9m since last Monday [14 Sept].  The figure includes the audience that watched it on the night, including repeat showings, and via catch up as well as on ITV Hub and on non-TV devices.

On seven day consolidated viewing, Des, which received widespread critical acclaim, has now surpassed Quiz as the biggest new drama launch on ITV this year and is the most watched drama launch on the channel since Wild at Heart in 2006.  

Des has also drawn ITV Hub’s biggest Drama audience on record, attracting an audience of over 1.7 million viewers.

This figure surpasses the previous record holder Quiz, which achieved 1.4m viewers on the Hub back in April.

New ITV Hub statistics reveal the three part drama generated consumption hours of 2.2 million, boosting the Hub’s weekly consumption hours by 43.7%, and increasing its weekly audience by 34.4%. It is now top of the ITV Hub’s most watched shows on catch up. 

The Real Des: The Dennis Nilsen Story, a documentary accompanying the drama, also ranked in fifth place amongst the top ten catch up shows.  Overall, the documentary, first shown last Thursday [17 September]  has been watched by 4.3m [including overnight and catch up figures]. 

Des’ popularity helped to lift the share of consumption in the drama genre by 25%.

ITV has three of the top five most watched drama launches this year. As well as Des, the first episodes of Quiz [5.3m] and Van Der Valk [5.2m] are also ranked in the top five by overnight audience. Quiz also delivered consumption hours on the ITV Hub of 3 million.

Original commissioning on the ITV Hub has included Britain’s Got Talent Unseen and The TOWIE Years. The ITV Hub also debuts ITVBe programming first on the service, with new episodes of ITVBe’s most popular service going live the morning before their evening transmission.