ITV2 Scores With Manchester United Coverage

ITV2 gained the biggest non-terrestrial football audience of the season last night for the Manchester United versus Maccabi Haifa game.

Between 7.45pm and 9.30pm the UEFA Champions League game attracted an average of 1.9 million viewers, which equates to a 19.4% audience share. According to ITV, this is a bigger audience than any game featured across the Sky Sports channels this season.

It was also the top ranking non-terrestrial programme of the day, and was the second highest audience recorded yet by ITV2, after Pop Idol Extra Live: The Result, which was a huge success netting a 21.1% audience share for ITV2 (see Pop Idol Is A Hit For ITV).

Earlier this week ITV1 announced it is to invest £825 million in new programming next year in a bid to increase its audience share and secure lucrative advertising deals (see ITV To Put £825 Million Into New Shows Next Year). It also announced plans to re-brand ITV1 with a new unified identity in the most extensive overhaul of the channel to date (see ITV1 Re-brands With New Unified Identity).

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

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