Channel 4 bag 3.7m viewers for England U-21 Euros triumph
England’s U-21 European Championship triumph against Germany was watched by a peak 3.7m on Saturday evening.
The Channel 4 broadcast on Saturday night claimed 37 per cent of all viewers watching TV at the time England beat Germany 3-2 in Slovakia.
Harvey Elliott and Omari Hutchinson scored England’s normal time goals before Nelson Weiper and Paul Nebel took the match to extra time.
Jonathan Rowe netted the winner, however, to help England defend their title under Lee Carsley.
Channel 4’s head of sport Pete Andrews said : “What an amazing performance from Lee Carsley’s men. They have really captured the imagination of the viewing public.
“We are delighted with the viewing figures for the match and so pleased the team got so many people behind them on a special night.”
Channel 4’s England triumph
The programming ran for over three hours due to the additional time and had an average audience of 2.4m – 24 per cent of the total TV audience. The average audience for the actual match was 2.8m.
The peak of 3.7m was the highest of any programme shown on Saturday – which includes the likes of Glastonbury coverage, James Bond thriller Casino Royale and Love Island.
The final was also the most popular programme for those aged 16-34, according to the statistics, with more than a third of that age range watching the football over any other programme on Saturday.
The acquisition by Channel 4 was seen as smart by experts, with the terrestrial platform also scoring successes with the likes of Emma Raducanu’s US Open victory in 2021.
“We’ve been really lucky,” he told Morning Wire last month. “England won both finals [2019 Cricket World Cup and U21 Euros in 2023], and Raducanu won.”
It seems, then, Channel 4 now have a good track record in seeing Brits win on the global stage.