Organisers of the Barclaycard Mercury Prize have responded to claims that Channel 4’s awards show coverage saw disappointing figures compared to BBC programming in previous years.

The BBC’s entertainment correspondent Colin Peterson tweeted about the TV viewing figures for the event yesterday saying, “"Mercury Prize viewing figures: 2011: when live on BBC2 - 680,100. 2012: when on the next night on Channel 4 - 196,300."

Only the decision announcement from last Thursday's ceremony, won by Alt-J, was shown as it ...