England’s World Cup Final with Spain was watched by an average of 13.3 million people on TV, a new UK record for a women’s football match and one of the biggest audiences of the year so far, figures show.
The number of viewers peaked at 14.8 million in the closing minutes of the Lionesses’ 1-0 defeat in Sydney, according to overnight data released by the ratings organisation Barb.
The figures are the combined TV audience from kick-off to final whistle across BBC One and ITV, both of which showed the game live.
The average whistle-to-whistle TV set audience for the @FIFAWWC 2023 Final (11:03 - 13:05) was 13.3m across @BBCOne, @BBCiPlayer, @ITV and @ITVX (excluding viewing on non-TV devices). TV set viewing peaked at 14.8m at 12:54. TV set reach was 16.9m, a share of 84.7%.
— Barb (@BarbAudiences) August 21, 2023
It also includes people who watched the match on their TV set using the BBC iPlayer or ITVX, but does not include non-TV devices.
The average TV audience for Sunday’s final was more than two million higher than the previous record for a women’s football match, which was set at the Euro 2022 final at Wembley when just over 11 million viewers watched the Lionesses beat Germany 2-1.
The biggest TV audience of 2023 so far was for the King’s Coronation service at Westminster Abbey on May 6, which was seen by an average of 18.8 million people across 11 channels.
