Audley Anderson was voted out of Fame Academy

ITV1's pop talent show Pop Idol beat BBC One's Fame Academy in the ratings on Saturday - but the BBC show just beat its rival for the 15 minutes they went head-to-head.

Pop Idol got average ratings of five million viewers on its first night, with Fame Academy attracting 3.4 million in comparison.

The two shows were in direct rivalry for 15 minutes, with the BBC saying the show had 0.1% more audience share during that period.

It was the first time the two shows had been in competition.

Fame Academy had audience share of 26.6%, and Pop Idol had 35.4% for the entire programme. Pop Idol began at 19.15 BST, just 15 minutes before the end of Fame Academy.

The BBC talent show beat the documentary Pop Idol - One Year On, which looked back at last year's competition, with the latter attracting 3.1m viewers.

"We are really pleased with the figures. We've said from the beginning that it is a show that picks up viewers as it goes along," a spokeswoman for the programme said.

A Pop Idol spokeswoman said they were "delighted" with the programme's start.

Meanwhile, a documentary on the Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell, Being Simon Cowell, was also beaten in the ratings by BBC One's showing of the film The Beach.

The documentary attracted three million viewers compared to The Beach's four million.

Three-way battle

On Fame Academy pop hopeful Audley Anderson was voted out of the show by his fellow students.

The 31-year-old's rendition of My Girl failed to impress.

Audley, from Surrey, was one of three students who fought to stay in the house after viewers voted for their favourite 10 performances out of the 13.

Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty introduced live singing performances from all the students before inviting BBC One viewers to vote for their favourites.

The remaining 12 students Lorna Grant, 20, from Edinburgh Nick Hall, 29, from Birmingham Alex Parks, 19, from Truro Caroline Good, 22, from Leeds Alistair Griffin, 25, from Whitby Louise Griffiths, 25, from Herts Gary Phelan, 20, from Newcastle James Fox, 27, from Cardiff Peter Brame, 23, from Colchester Simone Stewart, 26, from Harrow Paris Campbell-Edwards, 23, from London Barry McKeever, 25, from Belfast

Audley said: "I felt the pressure today. I wasn't the Audley I wanted to be. I just crumbled.

"The future looks bright, I'm very excited. I'm going to miss the guys like crazy and I'm disappointed because I could have had a better performance."

The remaining students will be trained to become potential pop stars at the Academy mansion in north London, where they are being tutored by singing and dancing coaches.

The eventual winner will receive a recording contract, a luxury flat and the chance to live the life of pop star for a year.

Pop Idol returned after last year's series made stars of the winner Will Young and runner-up Gareth Gates, as well as Darius Danesh.