England’s historic footballing victory over Germany at Euro 2020 yesterday drew a peak audience of 20.6 million for BBC – the biggest UK audience for the tournament so far.
The match, in which England beat their international rivals 2-0, drew in an average of 13 million viewers, according to BARB overnight figures.
The broadcast, which ran from 4pm to 7.30pm on BBC One, achieved an audience share of 69% of the available TV-viewing population.
During the same time period, the ITV broadcast two game shows (Tipping Point and The Chase), its regular 6pm news hour, and two half-hour episodes of long-running soap Emmerdale. Emmerdale’s second episode drew the highest audience, with a peak of 2.9 million and average of 1.8 million viewers – which equated to an 8.2% audience share.
The BBC’s live Wimbledon tennis coverage, which ran on BBC2 from 11am to 8.30pm yesterday, drew in an average of 887,000 viewers, with a peak of 1.5 million. This was despite featuring two household-name players – Roger Federer and Serena Williams – whose matches were played during the England v Germany match.
Sweden v Ukraine, the other Euro 2020 match broadcast on the BBC last night, drew in a peak of 13 million viewers and an average of 7.9 million viewers during its 7.30pm-10.30pm broadcast, which equated to 42% of the available TV audience.
The live broadcast rights are shared between the BBC and ITV, but England games are the main draw outside of the final, which is simulcast on BBC One and ITV. The BBC is also broadcasting England quarter-final match with Ukraine on Saturday evening.
