England’s emphatic 4-0 victory over Ukraine in the quarter-finals of the 2020 UEFA European Championships went down as the most-watched live television event of the year so far on the BBC.
Gareth Southgate’s side sealed passage to England’s first European Championship semi-final for the first time in 25 years and a peak audience of 20.9 million viewers tuned in to watch England defeat Ukraine in Rome.
The BBC also revealed that the figures represent an 81.8% share of all available viewers at the time, as Harry Kane got England off to an early start, netting inside the first five minutes, before Harry Maguire added a second shortly after the restart.
Captain Kane made it 3-0 minutes later before substitute Jordan Henderson put the game beyond all doubt at 4-0 with less than half-an-hour remaining on the clock, marking his first goal in England colours.
In addition, the highly anticipated clash was streamed 5.2 million times across the BBC’s streaming service, BBC iPlayer, and the BBC website.
The Three Lions victory supersedes the previous record set by Southgate’s side, when the national broadcaster attracted a peak audience of 20.6 million as England overcame Germany to make it to the Euro 2020 quarter-finals on the BBC.
Previously, rival broadcaster ITV posted a peak record of 20 million viewers for England’s group stage clash against Scotland.
Coverage returns to ITV on Wednesday as England prepare to face Denmark in the semi-finals of the tournament on home soil at Wembley Stadium, and both the BBC and ITV will carry the final on 11 July.