More Than 7 Million Watch England Defeat Ukraine

More than 7 million football fans tuned in to BBC One last night to watch the England team return to form after a disappointing performance in the European Championships with a convincing 3-0 win over Ukraine.

Unofficial overnight figures from BARB show that a peak of 7.2 million viewers resisted the temptation to go to the pub to watch the game, which saw goals from England captain David Beckham, Michael Owen and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who was making his international debut.

Audiences for the friendly clash, which was being treated as a warm up for next month’s World Cup qualifiers, averaged 5.7 million, securing a healthy 26.6% share of the available audience for BBC One between 7:45pm and 10:00pm.

BBC Two also performed well last night with audiences for its coverage of the Olympic Games in Athens averaging 3.7 million viewers and securing a solid 18.6% share between 6:30pm and 10:00pm. The mix of weightlifting, men’s gymnastics and swimming peaked with 4.9 million viewers and a 22.7% share of the available audience.

The BBC has been in focus recently with Match Of The Day returning last Saturday to mark the return of the Premiership football season. The 90-minute programme averaged 3.4 million viewers and secured a 26.6% share of viewing between 10:30 and midnight. However, the first instalment of ITV1’s The Premiership last season drew 4 million viewers and took a 30% share.

BBC: 020 8743 800 www.bbc.co.uk

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