ITV wins World Cup ratings battle with BBC in tournament’s first week

England v Croatia got year’s highest UK TV figures

BBC opted for more first-pick games in knockout stages

ITV is winning the UK television ratings battle after the first week of the World Cup. Viewing figures obtained by the Guardian from Barb, which measures audience numbers, show the commercial channel had four of the five highest TV audiences, topped by England’s 4-2 win over Croatia.

England’s victory in Dallas attracted a peak audience of 15.4 million on ITV and an average of more than 10 million, the highest UK TV viewing figures of the year.

ITV also had the second-highest viewing figures on TV of the first round of group games, with the opening match between the co-hosts Mexico and South Africa getting a peak audience of 7.7 million and a match average of 6.6 million. The BBC’s live coverage of France v Senegal on Tuesday obtained a peak audience of 6.7 million and match average of 5.9 million.

ITV’s coverage of Spain v Cape Verde and the Netherlands v Japan complete the top five, with peak audiences of 6.1 million and 6 million respectively.

The Barb viewing figures include those watching on main channels and streaming services through a television but not those watching on a laptop or mobile phone. When viewers watching the BBC stream on laptops and mobiles are added, its peak viewing figures for France v Senegal increased to 7.6 million, and it got peak audiences of 6.7 million and 6.5 million respectively for Portugal v the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Belgium v Egypt.

The BBC traditionally attracts better viewing figures for live sport than ITV and is likely to get a higher audience when the channels go head-to-head in broadcasting the World Cup final next month, with the initial match selections the key to ITV’s success in the opening week.

The BBC gambled in pre-tournament negotiations with ITV by opting to have more first-pick games in the knockout stages. It will have the first choice of fixtures in the last 32, last 16 and semi-finals, as well as England’s second group game against Ghana on Tuesday.

The BBC also showed Scotland’s first World Cup game in 38 years, against Haiti last weekend, which attracted a peak audience of 2.8 million despite a 2am UK kick-off. The audience watching live on BBC One comprised 78% of UK TV viewers at the time, rising to 92% in Scotland.

Most of ITV’s biggest games come at the start of the tournament, though it also has England’s third group game, against Panama, and any England quarter-final. That could be a tie against Brazil on a Saturday night.

ITV’s World Cup coverage has been well received critically, largely owing to its stunning studio in Brooklyn with views of the iconic Manhattan skyline. The BBC has been criticised for basing its presentation from its studios in Salford, although it has sound financial reasons for doing so.

The new BBC director general, Matt Brittan, has this week begun announcing significant efficiency savings that could lead to the loss of up to 2,000 jobs at the corporation as it attempts to reduce its budget by £500m over the next three years.

The BBC have been criticised for not offering a daily highlights programme on television but its digital highlights are proving popular and have been streamed 11.6m times in the BBC iPlayer this week, an increase of 197% from the first week of Euro 2024.