ITV Studios recently released a its report for the FIFA World Cup 2022 viewership figures on television and across streaming devices over the past four weeks. The event streamed 146 million times across the tournament on ITVX and ITV Hub, more than 100 million more than the previous tournament in 2018.
ITV showed the biggest audience on any channel this year with over 15 million viewers and a peak of 23 million watching England v France across TV and streaming. 2.5million 16-34s (83%) watched the Quarter Final, the biggest overnight television audience for younger viewers on any channel this year. The top three most watched matches of the tournament were all on ITV with a peak of 20 million viewers watching England v Senegal and 18m watching England v USA across TV and streaming.
Across the tournament, ITV's top five peak audiences across TV and streaming were: 1 England v France 23.0 million, 2 England v Senegal 20.4 million, 3 England v USA 18.0 million, 4 USA v Wales 13.0 million, and 5 Morocco v Portugal 11.7 million. ITV's match coverage attracted more TV viewers than those on the BBC averaging 5.8m (6.2m across all devices) vs 5.7m on the BBC. 44 million viewers watched the coverage on ITV this year (3 min reach).
Matches not featuring England were also hugely popular, with examples including USA v Wales, which peaked with 13 million and the Morocco v Portugal semi-final with 12 million across TV and streaming. The tournament ended yesterday with Argentina beating France on penalties in the only match of the tournament broadcast by both ITV and the BBC in the UK. ITV’s coverage was watched by an average of 2.9m, with the match viewed by an average of 3.7m and a peak audience of 4.8m across TV and streaming.