TV Overnights: England qualifier scores a high of 8.2 million

ITV1’s coverage of the Live International England v Belarus match at Wembley secured the highest ratings during prime time last  night.

The game, which ended 3-0 to England, pulled in over 8.2 million peak viewers and a 30.9% average audience share between 7.30pm and 10pm – a substantial number more viewers than England’s last World Cup qualifier.

On Saturday, around 500,000 football fans logged on to watch the England v Ukraine match after buying a subscription pass for up to £11.99.  The game was only available online on a pay-per-view basis, after rights company Kentaro failed to agree a rights deal with a British broadcaster following the collapse of Setanta earlier this year.

Last night’s match, meanwhile, easily secured the top spot during the all-important peak-time ratings war.

BBC One came a not-so-close second to ITV, with Inspector George Gently and Traffic Cops.  A repeat of the final episode of the recent George Gently series starring Martin Shaw attracted 3.3 million viewers and a 14.5% share between 8pm and 9.30pm, followed by Traffic Cop‘s 2.9 million viewers and 13.1% share between 9.30pm and 10pm.

Elsewhere, Channel 4’s penultimate Secret Millionaire banked 2.6 million average viewers and a 11.7% audience share, while BBC Two’s new documentary Prescott: The North/South Divide picked up 1.3 million average viewers and a 5.9% share.

At the same time, Five’s Farmer Wants a Wife, hosted by Louise Redknapp, pulled in just 751,000 viewers and a low 3.2% average audience share.

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 and key multi-channel stations.