Respectable Viewing Figures For England-less Euro 2008
The opening games of Euro 2008 got off to a good, if not spectacular, start for the big two terrestrial channels.
BBC One’s coverage of the opening ceremony – and the first tournament match between Switzerland and Czech Republic – attracted an average of just under 3.3 million adults (with a 27.9% share of viewing).
This proved to be more popular than ITV1’s coverage of the qualifying for Canadian grand prix, which attracted an average audience of 2.1 million (15.7% viewing share).
Later on Saturday night, ITV1’s coverage of Portugal vs Turkey pulled in 3.7 million adult viewers (21% viewing share). This was less than the various offerings on BBC One for the duration of the match, with Doctor Who, National Lottery: 1 vs 100 and Casualty pulling in 6 million, 4.6 million and 5.3 million adults respectively.
Earlier on Saturday the BBC’s coverage of The Derby and French Open: Women’s Singles Final attracted ratings of 1.4 million and 630,000 respectively.
Moving onto Sunday, the matches involving Austria vs Croatia and Germany vs Poland, both shown on BBC One, pulled in 2.8 and 4.3 million viewers.
The incident packed F1: Canadian Grand Prix, which saw British driver Lewis Hamilton cause a pit lane accident, attracted 3.6 million viewers.
Rafael Nadal’s demolition of Roger Federer in French Open: Men’s Singles Final was watched by an average 946,000 between 2pm and 6.10pm, though the actual final itself only lasted around two hours (with an average 1.2 million viewers).
Following the opening night salvo of Big Brother on Thursday, the weekend viewers to Channel 4’s rating powerhouse dipped slightly. Figures for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night’s respective highlight show were as follows: 3.2 million; 2.2 million and 2.8 million.
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, ITV2 and Sky One.
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk