BBC's SPOTYs Draw More Than 14 Million Viewers, Most In Two Decades

Bradley Wiggins being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year "was watched by a five-minute peak audience of 14.5 million viewers on Sunday, as the BBC1 show pulled in its biggest audience for at least two decades," according to John Plunkett of the London GUARDIAN. The BBC1 end-of-the-year sports review show, dominated by the Olympics and Paralympics, "had an average audience of 10.6 million viewers, a 39.6% share," between 7:30pm and 10:30pm local time on Sunday. Hosted by Sue Barker, Gary Lineker and Clare Balding, the award show had "a 15-minute peak of 14.3 million (56.5%) for its climax" between 10:15pm-10:30pm. Boosted by memories of an extraordinary year for British sport, the audience "was more than twice the 4.2 million (15.8%) who watched last year's show." It was the "biggest audience for the Sports Personality of the Year Show since at least '92" (GUARDIAN, 12/17).

Sports Personality of the Year
Year	Average Audience	Who Won
2011	4.2 million	Mark Cavendish
2010	6.8 million	Tony McCoy
2009	4.7 million	Ryan Giggs
2008	6.6 million	Chris Hoy
2007	6.8 million	Joe Calzaghe
2006	5.8 million	Zara Phillips
2005	4.9 million	Andrew Flintoff
2004	6.1 million	Kelly Holmes
2003	8.3 million	Jonny Wilkinson
2002	6.6 million	Paula Radcliffe
2001	7.1 million	David Beckham
2000	7.2 million	Steve Redgrave