​England advanced to the FIFA World Cup semi-finals in front of the largest UK audience the tournament has drawn so far. Jude Bellingham’s brace sealed a 2-1 victory over Norway, with up to 16.8 million viewers tuning in to ITV1 for the dramatic win. The overnight Barb figures reported by overnights.tv show ITV’s coverage attracting an average audience of 12.7 million across the broadcast. The match began at 10 p.m. local time at the Miami Stadium and surpassed the previous peak of 15 million viewers registered for England’s opening fixture against Croatia last month.
Even so, the numbers did not reach the heights of England’s prior World Cup quarter-finals. In 2022, England’s clash with France in Qatar drew a peak audience of 21.3 million, while the 2018 quarter-final in Russia, where England defeated Sweden 2-0, peaked at around 20 million.
Within the 2026 tournament, England’s high-octane 3-2 win over Mexico in the last-16 round was watched by approximately 9 million British viewers in the small hours, the largest TV audience ever recorded for a live UK broadcast between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
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