'Daybreak' loses a fifth of its viewers

ITV1's new breakfast show, Daybreak, has lost a fifth of its viewers since its first show last week.

One million people tuned in to see Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley interview guests including the former prime minister Tony Blair last Monday. But the latest figures showed only 800,000 watched the show yesterday, while its rival, BBC Breakfast, had 1.4 million viewers.

Reuniting Bleakley and Chiles, who became household names on The One Show on BBC1, was part of a plan to bring back viewers who switched off towards the end of GMTV's run. An ITV spokeswoman said: "Daybreak has made a strong start in a very competitive breakfast television market, with viewing figures for its first week up over 11 per cent on the average for GMTV. ITV has made a long-term investment in new breakfast programming and, after over five years of decline for GMTV, we have already halted a downward trend in viewing."