More than 17 MILLION fans tuned in to watch England v Wales World Cup match last night (but 30million watched Three Lions’ Euro 2020 final)
- The match dubbed ‘Battle of Britain’ had an audience share of 69% on BBC One
- Ratings peaked at around 8.30pm with some 17.4 million viewers, figures show
- Number doesn’t include those who watched on the Welsh language channel S4C
More than 17 million fans tuned in to watch England’s 3-0 win over Wales in the World Cup last night.
The match, dubbed the ‘Battle of Britain’ in the build-up, had an audience share of 69% on BBC One, according to figures from overnights.tv.
The ratings peaked at around 8.30pm, with some 17.4 million viewers, while the average audience figure was around 16.6 million, according to ratings agency Barb.
The number does not include those who watched on the Welsh language channel S4C.
More than 17 million fans tuned in to watch England’s 3-0 win over Wales in the World Cup last night
The figures are still dwarfed by last year’s Euros final, when some 30 million witnessed England suffer penalty heartbreak against Italy at Wembley
BBC presenter Huw Edwards broke the news of the Queen’s death in September, with 33 million people tuning in across major broadcasters
Others will have watched the game on iPlayer, although those figures will not be reflected in the overnight data from Barb or overnights.tv.
The figures represent a rise on last Friday, when an average audience of 15.1 million tuned into watch England’s underwhelming goalless draw with the USA.
However, they are still dwarfed by last year’s Euros final, when some 30 million witnessed England suffer penalty heartbreak against Italy at Wembley.
That was the most watched broadcast of 2021, beating the Line of Duty finale and Boris Johnson‘s lockdown announcement to the top spot.
However, even that figure was beaten earlier this year, when 33 million people tuned in across major broadcasters as news of the Queen’s death broke.
Viewers switched onto the BBC and other major news channels between the hours of midday and 2am on September 8, as broadcasters abandoned regular programming schedules to deliver the news.
England secured victory over Wales with two goals from Marcus Rashford and one from Phil Foden, securing them a place in the last 16.
ITV said an average audience of 11.9 million had watched its overall extended coverage including pre-match punditry.
England’s reward for topping its group is a clash with Senegal on Sunday.
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