England’s Euro 2020 final against Italy attracted the highest TV audience since the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, provisional figures show.
An average of 29.8 million viewers saw the match, which ended with the Three Lions losing on penalties after the contest ended 1-1 following extra time.
Based on overnight ratings, it was the biggest TV audience for an England football match since comparable records began in 1981.
The previous record was held by the World Cup 1990 semi-final between West Germany and England, coverage of which attracted an average of 25.2 million viewers.
The funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales was watched by an average of 32.1 million.
A breakdown of figures for Sunday’s match shows an average of 24.2 million watched the final on BBC One, compared with 5.6 million on ITV.
Both broadcasters also reported figures for how the match was enjoyed on non-TV devices.
The BBC said the final had been requested online across the BBC Sport website and the BBC iPlayer a total of 6.9 million times, while ITV said there were 4.2 million streams of the coverage across ITV Hub, along with 0.2 million streams on STV Player.
These figures are separate to the main TV ratings, as one request or stream does not equal one viewer.
Official TV ratings for the match will be published by the audience research body Barb in a week’s time, and will include people who recorded the coverage and watched it up to seven days later.