England’s 2-1 Euro 2016 win over Wales was watched live on the BBC Sport website by a record 2.3 million people and a peak audience of more than 9 million on BBC1.
It is more than double the BBC’s previous biggest live streaming audience, an indication of the huge national interest in the game and the fact that many people were at work when it kicked off at 2pm on Thursday.
BBC1’s Match of the Day Live, which kicked off at 1.30pm, drew an average audience of 6.6 million viewers, a 61.6% share of the audience.
It had a five-minute peak of 9.3 million, a 73% share of the audience.
The online viewing figures, which include mobile, are a sign of the changing way the nation watches television.
The 2.3 million audience includes everyone who clicked on the website and started to live stream the football, which England clinched with an injury time winner by Daniel Sturridge.
An all-time high audience of 14.6m unique global browsers visited the BBC Sport website on Thursday to follow coverage of Euro 2016, including Northern Ireland’s match against Ukraine.
This breaks the previous record of 13.6m browsers set on the final day of the 2015-16 Premier League season.
Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: “The BBC has pioneered live digital event coverage from London 2012 Olympics to Glastonbury, and our record breaking figures highlight its increasing importance to audiences.”
