BGT viewing figures-do they herald a return of mass viewing?

Back to the 1970's is most certainly the vogue at the moment.Recession,the rise of the political right and industrial action but now after Saturday night another throwback to the decade.

ITV's Britain's got talent attracted over 18m viewers in the return to the mass viewing phenomena that most pundits thought had gone away.

Personally I have not watched the show but hats off to ITV who in the face of its many problems and propelled by the Susan Boyle experience,appears to have hit on a winning formula.

What makes the figures more remarkable is that it is a Saturday night and occurred in the midst of a heatwave.

The recession,no doubt,has played its part.I wonder how many of those viewers were around at friends houses,having bought their food and drink in the supermarket rather than being watched at the local pub?

The cusp of a new viewing experience or a successful one off?

Boyle saves ITV

Maybe one swallow doesn't make a summer but ITV after all their problems must be happy with the final week of Britain's got talent.

Writing in the Spectator Simon Hoggart says

So it could be that ITV is saved not by a cigar-chomping, hot-shot show-biz executive but by a spinster from a Scottish village. The appearance of Susan Boyle in the first semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent (ITV, all week) was greeted with adoration — and audience figures — that would have been apt if Maria Callas had returned from the dead.