The BBC has announced that there had been 25.7 million streams of the Women’s World Cup across its digital platforms, with 21.2 million tuning into its television coverage during the tournament. This culminated in a peak audience of 12 million on BBC One for the final, in which the Lionesses were defeated by Spain, along with 3.9 million digital streams via the iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app.
Yesterday’s television peak was higher than the peak of 11.3 million that watched the men’s Wimbledon men’s singles final. With ITV numbers included, that peak reached 14.4 million. As Deadline noted, this is under the 17.4 million peak that saw England win the women’s Euros final last year.
Those numbers mean that the final was the second most-watched event on the BBC this year, beaten only by the Coronation of King Charles.
Despite being on the other side of the world, the team and the tournament certainly grabbed the nation’s attention. It will be interesting to see the numbers of the Women’s Super League when the domestic season starts in October. (Much of it is shown on Sky so that the audience will inevitably be smaller, but some games are shown on the BBC.)
[Correction – headline and story initially said the 25.7 million figure related only to the final. Consider it post-holiday brain fuzz! The numbers are still pretty staggering.]
Pingback: Schedule Puts Lionesses Against ITV Leaders' Debate - The Addition