Eric Dier's shootout-clinching goal was seen by 24.4 million viewers on ITV.GETTY IMAGES
England's "dramatic" penalty shootout victory over Colombia in the World Cup on Tuesday secured ITV "the highest TV audience since the London 2012 Olympics," according to Alex Brownsell of CAMPAIGN LIVE. A one-minute peak of 24.4 million viewers at 9:52pm tuned in to see Eric Dier secure England's first ever penalty shootout victory at a World Cup, representing an 81% share of viewing. It was the highest peak audience for live sport since England faced Portugal in the quarterfinal of Euro 2004, when 24.7 million watched the Three Lions "tumble out as a result of dreaded penalties" (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 7/4). THE DRUM's John McCarthy reported the coverage lasted "just over four hours" and took a 69% share of U.K. viewing during this window, "proving how live sports can still draw impressive audiences on linear TV." Twitter also provided data on "the buzz created by the game." It peaked at 127,000 tweets per minute "on the #WorldCup as Dier netted the winning penalty" (THE DRUM, 7/4).
PIRACY POPULARITY: SOCCEREX reported Brazil's games have been "the most pirated so far" at the World Cup, according to study by Irdeto. The piracy prevention company said that it detected 5,088 unique illegal streams redistributing matches during the group stages of the tournament, with more than 582 pirated feeds identified during Brazil's three games against Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia. Brazil was "closely followed by Morocco," whose games were the subject of 561 illegal streams, while Portugal's group fixtures were illegally distributed on 535 feeds (SOCCEREX, 7/5).
DOWN IN FRONT: In London, Gareth Davies reported audience members who watched England's World Cup penalty shootout against Colombia on their phones while seated in the front row of a Titanic show have been branded "stupid and ignorant" by the cast. Two women at the front of the audience for Titanic The Musical at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham "audibly celebrated each goal during the nail-biting conclusion to the game, while the production was going on" (TELEGRAPH, 7/5).
