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England-Tunisia match Britain's most-watched TV programme of 2018

June 20, 2018 00:00:00


FE Sport Desk

England's last-gasp win against Tunisia at the football World Cup was Britain's most-watched television programme of 2018, according to the BBC on Tuesday.

An average audience of 13.7 million witnessed the team open their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 win.

Ratings peaked at 18.3 million during the closing minutes, when more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of all UK TV viewers were tuned to the match.

Monday evening's game in Volgograd, which was decided by captain Harry Kane's injury-time header, had a 69.2 per cent audience share at its peak, beating last month's royal wedding.

Around three million requests were also made to stream it online, making it the highest ever live audience for an online BBC broadcast.

That made the match - in which England captain Harry Kane headed in at the death - became the most watched event of the year, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding.

And an evening kick off on a Monday made it become the ninth most watched England match ever.


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