The level of solidarity and support for the French people following the terrorist attacks in Paris has been underlined in viewing figures for England’s friendly match against France at Wembley on Tuesday.
A breakdown of the viewing shows that the two highest audience peaks during the whole match came before the game had even started.
A five-minute peak of 8.5 million football fans tuned in as the two teams’ national anthems were being played ahead of kick-off.
The peak viewing, a show of support and solidarity following the attacks, came at 7.55pm and 8pm as ITV deliberately chose to drop a TV ad break out of respect for uninterrupted coverage of the anthems.
The peak audience totally outstripped the 6.3 million average audience that tuned into watch ITV’s overall coverage, although it was the most-watched programme on TV that day.
