World Cup Coverage Is Big Weekend Winner

The World Cup coverage was the runaway network winner on Saturday night, with England’s victory over Paraguay netting a whopping 74% of adult viewers for BBC1, peaking at over 11 million.

As barbecues smoked and beer was guzzled, millions tuned in to see the boys in red and white sizzling in the German sun. The 1-0 win drew a massive 80% of ABC1 male viewers, peaking at more than three million.

There was no competition for England’s first match of the tournament, with all other network channels struggling to secure even 3% of the adult viewing share at the time.

The football continued to dominate as the evening wore on; Trinidad and Tobago vs Sweden on ITV1 held on to 36% of the adult viewing share, peaking at nearly five million adult viewers towards the end of the match.

It was football heaven for the ABC1 male viewers. The 0-0 draw drew nearly 50% of the viewing share, peaking at nearly one-and-a-half million male ABC1 viewers.

ITV1 held just over 40% of the ABC1 male viewers as Argentina beat Ivory Coast, peaking at nearly two million, while 28% of the adult viewing share held on to watch the match, nearly five million adult viewers.

In direct competition with the Argentina match, BBC1’s National Lottery was the real winner amongst adult viewers, grabbing a more than 32% share, followed by Casualty with more than 33.5% of the share, or more than five-and-a-half million adult viewers.

BBC2 didn’t have a great evening, while Channel 4’s Big Brother managed just three million adult viewers, or 17% of the viewing share. Five’s best offering, also in direct competition with the Argentina Vs Ivory Coast coverage on ITV1, was CSI:NY, which managed 13% of the adult viewing share, or over two million adults.

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, ITV2 and Sky One.

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

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com