Record audience watches England-France game on UK TV

The record audience was the biggest of the tournament and had the highest peak across any channel overshadowing the final of last year’s Euros between England and Italy.

This was also ITV’s best Saturday night when it comes to record setting audience since new ratings system was introduced in 2002.

Figures later revealed that there were 30 million streams on ITV which was once again the best ever for the Hub or ITVX.

An average audience of 20.4 million watched the encounter with an average of 15.8 million watching the live and exclusive coverage. More than 23 million watched England’s heart breaking moment as Harry Kane missed his penalty to tie the game.

Streaming service comes through challenge

The encounter with France was also a huge test for ITVX, ITV’s new streaming replacement for ITV Hub that had previously infuriated fans with technical glitches and failures earlier in the tournament.

ITV had previously announced that they would promise a new service which would avoid freezing of screens while watching live matches.

Earlier there were also complaints on social media that viewers couldn’t access matches through ITVX as their TV sets had not been updated with the new app.

However, the new streaming services had a successful day with 15.3 million streams of the England against France while Morocco’s stunning 1-0 upset of Portugal was streamed more than 8.2 million times.

France went through Aurelien Tchouameni’s thunderbolt in the 17th minute before Harry Kane restored parity with his spot kick in the 54th minute.

Olivier Giroud’s header 12 minutes from time was eventually the winner as Kane skied his penalty six minutes from time.

British broadcaster ITV has revealed that a record peak audience of 23 million watched England’s 2-1 defeat to France in the quarter finals of the World Cup on Saturday night. This was the most watched television moment of the year with viewers tuning in to ITV and ITVX to watch the Three Lions take on the reigning Champions.

Record audience

The record audience was the biggest of the tournament and had the highest peak across any channel overshadowing the final of last year’s Euros between England and Italy. This was also ITV’s best Saturday night when it comes to record setting audience since new ratings system was introduced in 2002.

Figures later revealed that there were 30 million streams on ITV which was once again the best ever for the Hub or ITVX.

An average audience of 20.4 million watched the encounter with an average of 15.8 million watching the live and exclusive coverage. More than 23 million watched England’s heart breaking moment as Harry Kane missed his penalty to tie the game.

The encounter with France was also a huge test for ITVX, ITV’s new streaming replacement for ITV Hub that had previously infuriated fans with technical glitches and failures earlier in the tournament.

ITV had previously announced that they would promise a new service which would avoid freezing of screens while watching live matches.

Earlier there were also complaints on social media that viewers couldn’t access matches through ITVX as their TV sets had not been updated with the new app.

However, the new streaming services had a successful day with 15.3 million streams of the England against France while Morocco’s stunning 1-0 upset of Portugal was streamed more than 8.2 million times.

France went through Aurelien Tchouameni’s thunderbolt in the 17th minute before Harry Kane restored parity with his spot kick in the 54th minute. Olivier Giroud’s header 12 minutes from time was eventually the winner as Kane skied his penalty six minutes from time.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Xinhua