Semi-Final Thriller Nets Over 11 Million Adult Viewers

Last night’s thrilling World Cup semi-final on ITV1, which saw the host nation knocked out of the competition by Italy in the dying minutes of extra time, was watched by a peak of 11.1 million adult viewers.

The match attracted a much larger peak figure than for any other non-England game in the tournament so far, with almost 40% of the television-viewing public seeing two remarkable goals shatter Germany’s dreams and take Italy through to Sunday’s final. 54% of ABC1 Men watched the game, a peak of 3.3 million.

Other networks fought to compete with one of the last matches of the Cup. Channel 4’s Big Brother managed a healthy average of 3.9 million adult viewers (an 18% audience share), while BBC One’s Judge John Deed, a drama about a womanising and rebellious judge, managed an average of 3.1 million adult viewers, a 16% audience share.

Wimbledon on BBC Two drew in an average of 1.3 million adult viewers in its afternoon slot, but lured an average of just over half a million adult viewers, a 3.7% audience share, during the gripping Germany v Italy battle.

BBC One’s Eastenders attracted an average of more than six million adult viewers, or a 40% audience share, during the first semi-final’s preamble. Five’s best performance of the night came from a double episode of CSI, which netted two million and 1.9 million adult viewers each during the game.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk