Last night, England was eliminated from the World Cup following an exceptional performance by Argentina’s Lionel Messi, with a massive portion of the country watching the event.
The semi-final match between England and Argentina on BBC One reached a peak viewership of 21.5 million and had an average of 15 million viewers, making it not only the most-viewed World Cup game but also the top UK broadcast of the year.
This viewership significantly surpassed the 16.8 million peak viewers of England’s previous match against Norway, as recorded by Barb figures from overnights.tv.
The match commenced at 8 p.m. local time, which likely helped achieve high viewership numbers. Many of England’s earlier games had late start times, including a match against Mexico that began in the middle of the night. Despite the inconvenient time, this thrilling 3-2 victory over Mexico attracted 9 million British viewers, setting a record for the largest TV audience for a live UK broadcast between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
Catch the Highlights
While England aimed to claim their first World Cup in 60 years, the match ended in disappointment. England initially led with a goal from Anthony Gordon, but the stellar Lionel Messi, often hailed as the greatest of all time, assisted in scoring two goals in the final 10 minutes, securing an Argentine victory.
Argentina is now set to face Spain in the final this Sunday, while England will play against France in the third-place playoff the day before.
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