'We knew this would be the case' - earlier start time behind drop in viewing figures for Grand National says ITV Racing's Ed Chamberlin

Racing got the Grand National it needed on Saturday, according to Ed Chamberlin, who refused to be downbeat despite 1.4 million fewer people tuning in to ITV for Aintree's big race compared to the previous year.

Chamberlin led the ITV Racing team across the three-day meeting and said the fall from 7.5m viewers to 6.1m for the National was predictable after the race was run an hour and a quarter earlier at 4pm on Saturday.

"That figure is pretty much what we were expecting," said Chamberlin. "Having watched the golf last night it was probably like a par on a difficult hole like the 11th because obviously there were a lot of challenges this year, particularly in the build up to it and, with the new off time, the simple fact is less people are watching TV on a Saturday afternoon at 4pm than they are in the early evening. We knew this would be the case."