Record viewing figures for first episode, but fans criticise 'Downton Addy' for commercial breaks The episode stretched to 67 minutes of the 90-minute Sunday night slot allocated by ITV, with the remainder being filled by advertisements and promotions for other programmes. Two years ago, viewers also complained about the number of adverts, with the audience dropping from 10.1 million to 8.5 million over the course one episode. This year, viewers again took to Twitter to express their frustration, with one saying: "I've renamed it Downton Addy. The attributive adjective reflecting the flatulent amount of adverts it is infested with. Another wrote: "How did anyone manage to get into watching Downton Abbey with all these adverts every 10 mins on ITV?" A third said: "Quite enjoying the new season of Downton. Well, the little snippets that are shown between TONS OF ADVERTS. A spokeswoman for ITV pointed out the episode had "no more ad breaks than usual" for a 90-minute programme. The second episode will be broadcast by ITV at 9pm next Sunday, and will last for one hour and five minutes.