ITV1’s England Highlights Pulls In More Viewers Than Setanta’s Live Match

ITV1’s England highlights attracted over 1.9 million peak viewers last night, despite being aired 24 hours after the live match, as ITV scored a last minute deal with Setanta.

The highlights of the England’s victory over Croatia pulled in around 1.8 million average viewers between 10.35pm and 11.35pm, a fair bit higher than Setanta’s figures for the live match that aired on Wednesday evening (see Setanta Sports Pulls In Over 1.5m Viewers For England Victory).

ITV reportedly paid Setanta £100,000 for the rights to the highlights, following a week of controversy between the free-to-air broadcasters and the digital channel (see MP Calls For Government To Step In As TV Football Row Continues).

The football drew viewers away from BBC One’s American Beauty film – the channel lost its peak audience to ITV1 during the hour-long highlights.

However, the BBC had a good night overall, with BBC Two’s Mock the Week picking up the peak audience between 9pm and 9.30pm – attracting more than 3.6 million peak viewers.

Meanwhile, BBC One’s Crimewatch peaked during the second half of the programme, pulling in more than four million peak viewers, securing an average 17% audience share between 9pm and 10pm.

Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk