15.8 million people watched the World Cup final on the BBC

Spain’s victory over Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup final attracted a peak audience of 15.8 million across BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

The BBC enjoyed a 64% share of all TV viewing for the match, averaging 13.9m viewers as Ferran Torres’ extra-time strike sealed Spain’s second World Cup win.

The final was streamed 11.1m times on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, with 2.4m UHD streams on iPlayer.

BBC Sport live text coverage on the website and app was viewed 18.8 million times, including 14.2 million views in the UK, providing fans with the latest news, analysis and updates on matches.

Saturday’s third-place play-off between England and France brought in a peak audience of 11.8m across BBC One and iPlayer, with an average audience of 10.8m.

Throughout the World Cup, BBC TV viewing overall reached 42.8 million.

Audiences streamed World Cup matches 237 million times on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, more than double the 2022 World Cup and football dominated BBC iPlayer, where World Cup content accounted for 33% of all streams during the competition.

Additionally, the BBC Sport website and app attracted 57.2 million unique visitors, fans watched BBC Sport content 1.7 billion times, World Cup match highlights were streamed 67.3m times while the new BBC Football YouTube channel generated 100 million views across a range of content.

Across social media, clips, interviews, analysis, press conferences and fan moments attracted 2.55 billion video views.

The best performance video of the World Cup was Egypt winger Mustafa Zico’s interview after his move from Egypt to Argentina, with 77 million views on TikTok alone.

Director of BBC Sport Alex K-Jelski said: “This is a World Cup we will never forget, and that is entirely due to the millions of people who chose to enjoy it with the BBC.

“Thank you to everyone who watched, streamed, listened, read, shared and joined us throughout the tournament.

“Whether you’re watching at home, catching up on your phone during the workday, catching up on Football Daily or diving into our new interactive experience, you’ve made it the summer of football that brought the nation together.”