Following the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup 2018 group stage, the last 15 days have produced some of the largest viewing figures – TV and online – in the last 10 years for the BBC.
Six of the top ten TV audiences have been on the BBC, including; Tunisia v England (18.3m peak), England v Panama (14.1m), Portugal v Spain (10.4m), Argentina v Nigeria (9.9m), Germany v Mexico (9.5m) and Argentina v Croatia (9.2m).
Total audience reach during the group stage for live matches is 36.8m; including World Cup highlights programmes this increases to 38.5m – compared to 36.23m at the same stage in Brazil 2014.
Meanwhile, online audiences across BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer saw a total of over 40.9m million live and on-demand requests for the BBC’s group-stage matches.
BBC Sport online has received a total of 31.2m unique browsers so far compared with 32m for the whole of Brazil 2014, with the Player Rater receiving over 310k unique browsers. The BBC Sport VR – FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 app has been downloaded a total of 325k times.
“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!” said Steve Rudge, BBC lead executive, football. “We now look forward to bringing viewers some of the biggest games of the next round including heavyweight clashes between France and Argentina and when the hosts Russia take on Spain in Moscow.”
