A BBC source said: “This is the biggest TV World Cup ever. The last 15 days have produced some of the largest viewing figures – TV and online – in the last 10 years for the BBC. Millions across the country have tuned in to see England’s last-minute winner against Tunisia and their six-goal demolition of Panama and Ronaldo’s spectacular hat-trick against Spain.”
Covering the event are Gary Lineker, pictured, and a team of pundits including Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand.
According to BBC Sport, six of the top 10 TV audiences have been on the BBC, including; Tunisia v England (18.3 million), England v Panama (14.1 million), Portugal v Spain (10.4 million), Argentina v Nigeria (9.9 million), Germany v Mexico (9.5 million) and Argentina v Croatia (9.2 million).
Tunisia v England was the BBC’s most watched TV event of 2018, with a further three million watching online.
ITV has broadcast only England v Belgium which peaked at 18.6 million viewers, a huge 72 per cent of the audience and its highest peak audience of the year.
Two million also watched on the ITV Hub.
Matthew Postgate, the BBC’s chief technology and product officer, said: “People love the BBC’s World Cup coverage and we’re making sure they can tune in whenever and wherever they want.”
BBC Sport online has received 31 million hits so far compared with 32 million for the whole of Brazil 2014, while the “Player Rater”, in which users judge their performance, received more than 310,000 browsers.
And the BBC Sport virtual reality football app has been downloaded more than 300,000 times.
Steve Judge, BBC lead executive for football, said: “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to bring some of the most exciting games of the World Cup so far to BBC audiences and that so many have tuned in.”
Fans are hoping the so-called “ITV curse” doesn’t strike again when England play Colombia on Tuesday.
In the 10 World Cup games shown on ITV over the past 20 years, England were victorious only once, in a 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
