LONDON: The FIFA World Cup’s popularity in the United Kingdom seems to be unquestionable, as England’s first group game against Tunisia proved to be the most viewed programme of 2018 in the country so far.
An aggregate of 18.3 million viewers watched England’s 2-1 victory which came courtesy a brace from captain Harry Kane, which accounted for a whopping 69.2% of UK’s entire television audience, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which broadcasts all FIFA World Cup matches in the country.
This also meant that the match garnered more television viewership than the Royal Wedding in May and popular reality show, Britain’s Got Talent.
BBC also claimed that it received another record 3 million requests to stream the match online on BBC Sport (website) and the BBC iPlayer (app). No other programme of the broadcaster has received these many views in the past online. While more than 2 million player ratings were awarded by users on the website.
“Astonishing for an opening group game,” former England football star Gary Lineker, who introduced the match on BBC One had tweeted.
“The power of football and the World Cup.”
“Bloody Nora!” he added.
The audience numbers are expected to increase when the full TV ratings will be published in the UK next week, involving those who recorded the match and watched it later, UK news agency Press Association reports. Should England make it past the Round of 16, viewership numbers are expected to cross 20 million for each game.
World Cup matches, especially featuring England, have gained impressive numbers, ensuring that the trend continues. The biggest UK audience in this context was 25.2 million people who watched the semi-final between England and West Germany in 1990. This record could well be broken.
For non-England games as well, the interest seems to be high. According to FIFA, the opening game between Russia and Saudi Arabia attracted 18.05 million viewers watching it live on television in the UK, which even outclassed Russian figures despite having half its population.
