X Factor has won the head-to-head viewing war with Strictly Come Dancing by more than three million viewers, new figures show.
The figures, confirmed by ITV, BBC and Sky, showed a peak audience of 12.8 million, a 50% share of the TV audience, watched the squabbling between the judges on X Factor while Strictly peaked with 9.3 million, a 38% share.
The hit ITV show, which was broadcast between 8.00pm and 10.00pm, averaged 11.3 million viewers, a 44% share, with one million more viewers tuning in last night compared with the equivalent show last year.
But BBC One's Strictly, which featured an unsteady performance by Amy Winehouse as a backing singer for her 13-year-old god-daughter Dionne Bromfield, drew an average of eight million, a 32% share, between 7pm and 9.15pm.
While the two shows were head-to-head, The X Factor was watched by 10.9 million viewers, a 42% share of the audience, while 7.7 million, a 29% share, watched Strictly.
The controversial screening of the two shows simultaneously also led 1.3 million viewers to turn to their Sky+ and Sky+HD boxes, a spokesman for the broadcaster said.
Almost one million people chose to watch X Factor later, while around a third of that amount - 321,000 - set their Sky+ boxes for Strictly.
