Almost 9 Million See England Rugby Team Beat France

A peak of almost 9 million viewers tuned into ITV1 yesterday to watch England defeat France to secure a place in the final of the Rugby World Cup.

Audiences for the match, which saw England secure victory by 24 points to 7, averaged 7.6 million viewers and secured an impressive 64% share of viewing between 8.50am and 11.30am on Sunday morning.

The figures are comfortably the best of the year so far for any rugby international, beating the 6.3 million viewers that tuned in to ITV last week to watch England’s closely fought quarter final victory over Wales (see England Rugby Victory Draws Record Audience To ITV1).

A spokesman for ITV said: “These are excellent figures, especially when you consider that the match started at nine in the morning. There was such a buzz about the game and we’re sure another fantastic audience will tune in to see the final live on ITV1 next Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Australia’s 22-10 victory over the All Blacks attracted a peak of 4.6 million viewers, with an average of 3.9 million for the match as a whole. This provided ITV1 with a 45% share of the available Saturday morning audience.

International sport is proving something of a ratings winner for ITV and its recent replay of the England football team’s goalless draw against Turkey attracted an average of 4.5 million viewers and secured a 23.1% share of the available audience (see Over 6 Million Tune Into ITV1 For England Rugby)

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

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