Channel updates viewers on result of crucial vote and latest from I'm a Celebrity as technical problems affect some regions
ITV turned to Twitter to tell viewers what was happening on The X Factor after technical problems caused a screen blackout and wiped more than 1 million off the show's viewing figures on Sunday night.
In the digital equivalent of watching football on Ceefax, ITV's official Twitter feed sent out updates with the hashtag #blankscreenupdate.
The blackout took place in central and northern England during Sunday night's The X Factor results show and I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, two of ITV's biggest shows.
At the climax to the live Simon Cowell talent show, which was unseen by many viewers, @itv tweeted: "#blankscreenupdate The act leaving #xfactor is Tamera. Luke is safe."
Viewers used Twitter to complain about the loss of signal with others advising they try to watch in HD, which appeared not to be affected, or online.
The X Factor averaged 8 million viewers between 8pm and 9pm – down from 9.1 million the previous Sunday. I'm a Celebrity's audience was also down week on week, from 10.6 million to 9.7 million.
An ITV spokesman said: "There was a transmission issue last night that affected ITV viewers in northern and central regions. We apologised to viewers for the inconvenience caused.
"The transmission problem occurred towards the end of The X Factor results and during some of I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!"
It was the second time in a matter of months that the ITV signal has been lost in large parts of the country. Previously ITV repeated an episode of Emmerdale later the same evening because so many viewers were unable to watch it.
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