The TV ratings for the Queen's funeral have shown that more people tuned in for England's defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
The loss for Gareth Southgate's side was one of the most-watched moments in British television history, attracting a combined peak audience of 31 million viewers across both BBC and ITV, with many millions more watching on streaming services. The majority of viewers chose to watch the BBC’s coverage of the match last year when coverage peaked at 25 million viewers as the final went to a penalty shoot-out. ITV peak audience was 6 million viewers.
In contrast, the final journey of Queen Elizabeth II gathered a massive total peak audience of just over 28 million viewers according to statistic from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Just over 25.3 million people watched the coverage of the funeral across BBC One, BBC Two and the BBC News channel, while 5.3million people tuned in on ITV. Sky News also saw 934,000 viewers.
That adds up to a combined peak of around 28.5million viewers on main channels, but the final figure is expected be a bit higher when streaming is included. The BBC has stated their audience will increase substantially when consolidated figures are issued at a later date.
The figure does not included additional channels that covered the funeral via the same broadcaster, including 170,000 people watched the Queen's funeral on Sky Sports Main Event. BARB data for viewers watching on personal computers, smartphones and tablets will also be published early next week.
Both major events fell short of the British television record, which stands at 32.3 million people who tuned in to see England win the World Cup final in 1966.
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