BBC smashes ITV in year’s ratings war thanks to Great British Bake off, Strictly Come Dancing and Planet Earth II
The beeb has broadcast three quarters of the shows in this year's top 40, while rival ITV's most watched didn't even made top 40
BBC1 is well ahead in this year’s ratings war with ITV thanks to Bake Off, Strictly and Planet Earth II.
It has broadcast 31 of the top 40 most-watched shows so far in 2016, while just nine came from rival ITV.
The BBC's biggest successes include the Bake Off final, which is at number one on the chart with 16 million viewers and has nine of its ten episodes featuring in the top ten most watched list.
Meanwhile all but one episode of the natural history series Planet Earth II made the top 40, with the highest episode coming in at ninth on the chart with 13.1 million viewers.
But it is Strictly Come Dancing which dominates the list this year, with 13 entries in the top 40, not including the finale, for which full ratings are not yet available.
BBC1's coverage of the Euro 2016 final also makes the list, as does the one-off episode of Sherlock shown on New Year's Day.
The beeb's content boss Charlotte Moore hailed the figures as evidence that BBC1 "continues to unite us as a nation with shows that feel modern, fresh and in touch with our audience".
Meanwhile, rival ITV lagged behind, with its highest rated show, the I’m A Celebrity launch, ranking at number 12.
X Factor disappointingly failed to make the list for a second year running, although Britain's Got Talent managed five appearances in the chart.
Next year's list is likely to look very different, however, as the BBC will be without both Planet Earth Bake Off - which has been snapped up by Channel 4.
There will also be few big sporting events for either channel to broadcast.