England’s 1-0 defeat by France in the women’s football World Cup was a ratings hit for BBC2 with a peak audience of more than 2 million viewers, nearly double the highest audience for the women’s Euros two years ago.
Match of the Day Live had an average of 1.5 million viewers, a 9.1% share of the audience from 5.30pm on Tuesday.
It had a five-minute peak of 2.4 million, more than a million ahead of the 1.3 million high for the BBC’s coverage of the European Championships two years ago, for Germany’s 1-0 win over Norway in the final and England’s opening 3-2 defeat by Spain.
The World Cup has also been pulling in more than half a million viewers on BBC3.
The channel’s coverage of Germany’s 10-0 demolition of Ivory Coast on Sunday had 523,000 viewers, a 2.8% share, and a five-minute peak of 693,000.
Canada’s 1-0 win over China in the tournament opener on Saturday had 400,000 viewers (4.8%) from 10.35pm with a peak of 563,000.
