England Victory Draws More Than 8.5 Million To BBC1

More than 8.5 million viewers tuned in to BBC1 last night to see England come a step closer to qualifying for the Euro 2004 finals by beating Slovakia 2:1.

Audiences for the match, which kicked-off at 8pm, peaked at 10 million just after Michael Owen scored for the second time, taking England to victory and providing BBC1 with a massive 42% share of viewing.

The match proved that international football is still a ratings winner by overshadowing The Bill on ITV, which drew an average of 5.4 million viewers and secured 24.3% of the available audience between 8pm and 9pm. This was followed by the highly publicised Price William At 21, which attracted an audience of 5.1 million in the 9pm slot and provided ITV1 with a 22% share of viewing.

Commenting on the figures, a spokesman for the BBC, said: “We are extremely pleased that nearly half of the viewing public watched England’s journey towards Euro 2004 qualification.”

The BBC’s sports coverage is proving increasingly popular and last month a peak of 9.6 million viewers tuned in BBC1 to watch Arsenal’s victory over Southampton, giving the channel its best FA Cup Final viewing figures for three years (see BBC’s Cup Runneth Over With Arsenal Victory).

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

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