THE WOMEN’S WORLD CUP final was the second-most watched event of 2023 so far.
Viewing figures from the match between England and Spain have revealed that 12million people watched on BBC 1.
According to the Daily Mail, Spain’s 1-0 win has only been trumped by one other event this year – the Coronation of King Charles III in May.
Both the BBC and ITV provided coverage of the tournament, with both broadcasters airing Sunday’s final from Sydney.
However, the BBC dwarfed ITV’s viewing figures for the match as just 2.46million average viewers saw Laura Woods host their coverage.
Despite viewer complaints, more viewers tuned in to watch the Lionesses’ heart-breaking defeat on the BBC.
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Across both channels, a combined 14.7million people watched the final minutes of the match as England went in search of an equaliser.
The BBC, who’s line-up of presenters included ex-Lioness Alex Scott, also registered 25.7million stream requests across iPlayer and the BBC Sport webiste.
Their numbers surpassed those of the Wimbledon men’s singles final earlier this summer.
A peak audience of 11.3million viewers watched Carlos Alcaraz defeat Novak Djokovic back in July.
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That was despite viewers complaining that they could hear a Spanish commentator during the BBC’s coverage of the match.
Numerous complaints were made alleging they could be heard in the background as Robyn Cowen and ex-England star Rachel Brown-Finnis commentated on the match.
Across the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, there were 25.7million streams on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.
This amounts to a 75% increase from the 2019 Women’s World Cup, which had 14.7million streams.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
