The finale of ITV’s flagship entertainment show, the X Factor, drew in a whopping audience on Sunday night – with 19.4 million viewers tuning in to see who was crowned the winner, reports The Guardian.

The audience is the biggest a finale show has ever seen, with a massive 60 percent of the British public watching. The eventual winner, Matt Cardle, has won a £1 million recording contract with judge Simon Cowell’s record company, Syco.

Additionally, the broadcaster saw their greatest ever audience for the Saturday night show – enticing 14.1 million viewers, who watched on ITV1 and ITVHD. It has been a very strong week for the television channel, with a live edition of Coronation Street being broadcast, to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary.

Industry experts have claimed that ITV may be too reliant on these – the broadcaster’s prime shows – and that they must work to develop fresh, new programming that can be exploited around the globe. In marketing news publication, Marketing Week, ITV’s chief executive, Adam Crozier, agrees to an extent.

Crozier claims that although ITV does need to broaden its offering, it must be noted that they are also bound by the investment provided by the Contract Rights Renewal. This places strict restrictions on what ITV can and cannot broadcast, renew or cancel.

It has been reported that Syco and ITV have earned around £25 million from advertisements shown throughout the evening of the finale, with advertisers such as Apple, BT and Waitrose cashing in on the high audience figures.

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