England Versus Sweden Attracts Over 12 Million To ITV

More than 12.5 million people tuned into ITV1 on Sunday to watch England’s World Cup 2002 debut against Sweden.

The match, which kicked off at 10.30am and saw England settle for a 1-1 draw, averaged an 83.5% share of viewing, with audiences peaking at 13.04 million during the second half, between 11.30am and 12pm.

Broadcasters had been concerned that viewing figures for this year’s tournament would be lower than in the past due to the anti-social kick-off times of most of the games. However, Sunday’s England versus Sweden match attracted just 200,000 fewer viewers than England’s 5-1 defeat of Germany, which drew an average audience of 12.7 million when it was shown on BBC1 last September (see Football Nets 14.6m Viewers).

Despite these initially encouraging viewing figures, recent research from Carat suggests that over half of the British population has no interest in watching the World Cup on television (see Over 50% Of Britons Uninterested In World Cup). The RAB is also predicting that 36% of football fans plan to use the radio to keep up to date with this summer’s tournament (see Over 50% Of Britons Uninterested In World Cup).

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.co.uk

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