According to unofficial overnight figures, the game between the Republic of Ireland and Croatia had a peak audience of 8.4 million viewers across ITV1 and ITV1 HD, a 33% share of the TV watching audience.
During the course of the Ireland-Croatia game between 7.45pm and 9.30pm ITV1 and ITV1 HD had an average audience 7.62 million viewers.
Throughout ITV’s coverage from 7.15pm until 10pm the average audience was 6.60 million, a 26.7% share.
Spain and Italy’s tense 1-1 draw in the first game of Group C yesterday got a peak audience of 9.1 million, a 40% share, across ITV1 and ITV1 HD; the highest audience of the competition so far.
From 5pm to 6.45pm ITV1 and ITV1 HD had an average audience of 7.36 million viewers. ITV’s full coverage had an average audience of 6.07 million and a 32.6% share between 4.15pm and 7pm.
It was a sports-filled day on ITV1 with the final of the French Open between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal earlier in the afternoon. The game’s audience peaked at 2.3 million at 3.55pm, shortly before the game was abandoned because of the rain.
ITV’s coverage of the tennis between 1pm and 4.15pm had an audience of 1.58 million viewers across ITV1 and ITV1 HD, a 14.6% share.
On Saturday night the BBC had coverage of the first two games in Euro 2012's Group B. Germany’s 1-0 defeat of Portugal drew a peak audience of 9.04 million viewers, while Denmark’s 1-0 victory over the Netherlands peaked at 8.98 million.
During the BBC’s coverage of the Denmark and the Netherlands game from 4.30pm until 7.15pm BBC One and BBC One HD had an average audience of 5.62 million viewers, a 36.2% share.
Coverage of the Germany-Portugal game had an average audience of 7.69 million viewers, a 35.1% share, between 7.30pm and 10pm across BBC One and BBC One HD.
On Friday night the dramatic opening game between Poland and Greece, in which both teams had a man sent off, was shown on BBC One and BBC One HD. It peaked with 6.09 million viewers and had an average audience of 4.26 million, a 27.5% share.
ITV’s first game of the tournament, Russia against the Czech Republic, had a peak audience of 5.89 million and an average audience of 4.46 million viewers, a 20.2% share, between 7.15pm and 10pm on ITV1 and ITV1 HD.
Away from the sporting action, the latest 'Big Brother' got underway on Channel 5 last week. The first eviction show, which saw Victoria Eisermann leave the house, peaked at 1.84 million viewers and got an average audience of 1.35 million viewers, a 7.0% share, between 10pm and 11pm across Channel 5 and Channel 5 HD.
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