Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Lost finale: Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia and Evangeline Lilly
Lost finale: Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia and Evangeline Lilly. Photograph: Mario Perez/AP
Lost finale: Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia and Evangeline Lilly. Photograph: Mario Perez/AP

Lost finale draws more than 600,000 viewers to Sky1

This article is more than 14 years old
Show draws 68,000 live audience and more than 600,000 when yesterday's recorded viewing is added, while 13m watch in US

More than 600,000 Lost fans watched the last ever episodes on Sky1 yesterday, Monday 24 May - but only 68,000 got up at 5am to watch it live.

Lost had an average live audience of 68,000 viewers between 5am and 7.15am on Sky1. However, when timeshifted viewing – on video recorders and personal video recorders such as Sky+ – between then and 2am this morning is added, this average audience rises to 635,000.

The early morning start for Lost accounts for the unusually high proportion of timeshift viewing - nearly 90% of the total.

Lost's finale, entitled The End, was scheduled to run until 7.30am, but the broadcast – beamed in live from the US as Sky1 simulcast the show's conclusion with US network ABC's west coast transmission – actually ended 15 minutes early. Sky1 was one of seven non-US broadcasters that simulcast The End late on Sunday and yesterday.

In the past month Lost, which normally airs on Sky1 at 9pm on Friday, has attracted between 500,000 and 575,000 viewers when the live audience and sameday timeshifted viewing are combined.

In the US the final episode drew 13 million viewers on ABC on Sunday at 9pm, the highest ratings for the show for two years, although some observers thought that such a high-profile finale would draw larger numbers.

Sky experienced some technical difficulties with the unprecedented simulcast from the US. On Sky1 the transmission cut out for the first few seconds before being restored.

And on Sky's video on demand service, Sky Player, the Lost live stream went down just before 6am, to be replaced by an error message. An apology was posted on the Sky Player blog yesterday morning.

All ratings are unofficial overnight figures, including live and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, HD, +1 or other – unless otherwise stated

 To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

More on this story

More on this story

Comments (…)

Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion

Most viewed

Most viewed