ITV World Cup competition led the UK television race after the first week, and England’s 4-2 win over Croatia supplied the biggest number of the tournament so far. The match drew a peak audience of 15.4 million on Wednesday, with an average of more than 10 million.
England’s 4-2 win over Croatia
That figure gave ITV four of the five highest UK TV audiences in the opening week. England’s victory in Dallas produced the year’s highest UK TV viewing figures, underlining how strongly the tournament opened for ITV while the was left chasing the early lead.
ITV’s opening match between Mexico and South South Africa brought in a peak audience of 7.7 million and an average of 6.6 million. ITV then added peaks of 6.1 million for Spain v Cape Verde and 6 million for the Netherlands v Japan, giving the channel the depth behind its first-week lead rather than relying on one match alone.
and Matt Brittin
The still had live numbers of its own, but the shape of its audiences changed once laptop and mobile viewers were added. Its Tuesday coverage of France v Senegal rose from a peak of 6.7 million to 7.6 million, while Portugal v the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached 6.7 million and Belgium v Egypt reached 6.5 million with those viewers included.
Matt Brittin has also set out significant efficiency savings that could lead to the loss of up to 2,000 jobs at the, putting extra pressure on every part of its schedule and presentation. The broadcaster has traditionally drawn better viewing figures for live sport than ITV, which makes this early World Cup reversal more striking.
knockout-stage choices
has first choice of fixtures in the last 32, last 16 and semi-finals, a trade-off reached before the tournament that should shift more of the biggest knockout games its way later on. It also has first choice of England’s second group game against Ghana on Tuesday, while ITV still has England’s third group game against Panama and any England quarter-final.
’s live coverage of Scotland’s first World Cup game in 28 years against Haiti drew a peak audience of 2.8 million at 2am in the UK, with 78% of UK TV viewers watching live on One and that share rising to 92% in Scotland. iPlayer streamed 11.6 million digital highlights this week, up 197% from the first week of Euro 2024, as the two broadcasters moved toward the World Cup final with different audience strengths on different platforms.
