Figures from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board showed ITV's flagship News At Ten, which is soon to be scrapped, to be the most popular night-time news programme with an average 5.7m viewers compared with the BBC's Nine O'Clock News, with 5.2m.

But The Six O'Clock News with 5.8m viewers is well ahead of its early evening rival - ITN's News At 5.40 - which averages 4.3m.

It is the seventh year running that News At Ten, presented by Trevor McDonald, has been ahead of its BBC rival.

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When the programme is axed, McDonald will anchor a 6.30pm bulletin, while a late-night programme, The Nightly News, at 11pm, will be presented by Dermot Murnaghan with headlines at 10pm.

ITN editor-in-chief Richard Tait said: "It is a great tribute to the high quality of News At Ten's journalism that British viewers have now made it the top prime-time news programme for seven years in a row."

Lunchtime bulletins see the BBC ahead with an average 2.6m for the One O'Clock News compared with 2.3m for ITN's News At 12.30.

A BBC spokesman said: "Overall, for another year, we're delighted that we have got more people tuning in than anyone else."