Harry and Meghan’s big day may have been crowned the event of the year, but it was England’s victory against Tunisia in the World Cup at Russia 2018 that broke UK television records.
At its peak over 18 million viewers were watching the game, according to the BBC, which broadcast the game.
“Monday’s game in Volgograd, which had a 69.2% audience share at its peak, beat May’s royal wedding,” said the BBC. The match had a dramatic finale with England captain Harry Kane heading in a stoppage-time goal to secure a 2-1 win.
Now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the royal couple’s highly publicized event peaked at 13.1 million people just after 1pm, according to the BBC.
England’s win over Tunisia also delivered a record live audience for an online BBC programme, with three million requests to stream it.
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Across continents, viewers having been parking themselves in front of their TV sets to cheer on their teams.
According to figures released by world governing body FIFA, Brazil’s opening match against Switzerland drew in a total of 55.89 million people – higher than any game played in 2014 when Brazil hosted the World Cup.
As the Swiss grabbed a surprise 1-1 draw, there was a peak of 2.23 million viewers in Switzerland — the highest live match audience in 20 years.
Meanwhile 81.6% tuned in to Germany’s shock 1–0 defeat by Mexico giving German TV broadcaster ZDF its highest audience since Euro 2016. Elsewhere in Mexico, 17.56 million people watched the game simultaneously across different TV stations.
Last Saturday 99.6% of all people in Iceland watching TV were glued to their sets as the World Cup minnows drew 1-1 with Argentina.
Iceland’s 340,000 strong population is the smallest ever to reach the big stage, beating Trinidad and Tobago who held the title in 2006 with 1.3 million.
