Initiative's most recent ViewerTrack shows England's first match of the knock-out stages at World Cup 2006, against Ecuador, sealed by a David Beckham free kick, attracted an average programme audience of 14.2m in the UK. This was higher than England's opening two matches against Paraguay (8.8m) and Trinidad & Tobago (11.3m), but failed to topple the England v Sweden in-home audience of 14.4m.
This was despite the fact England had to beat Ecuador to remain in the competition, whereas they were already guaranteed progress to the next round when they took on Sweden.
There are a number of reasons for the lower average audience for England v Ecuador compared with England v Sweden. The match against Sweden was arguably a more exciting game, being less one-sided and with more goals scored. Initiative's previous ViewerTrack studies have all shown how audiences respond to more competitive matches and more goals.
Another reason for the lower audience is that England v Ecuador kicked off at 4pm on Sunday when fewer people typically choose to watch TV, compared with a peak 8pm midweek kick-off against Sweden.
England v Ecuador drew a much larger audience share at 75%, however, compared with 58% for England v Sweden.
While England v Ecuador drew a smaller in-home audience, the scheduling of the match means it is likely that the out-of-home audience was larger than for England v Sweden.
Initiative's Real Youth Panel has shown that people are more likely to opt for out-of-home viewing on a Sunday afternoon than on a weeknight.
The in-home audience for England's Second Round match in 2006 is also lower than for the same stage at the last two World Cups. England's Second Round match against Denmark at World Cup 2002 attracted an average programme audience of 15.7m. This match was simulcast on BBC One and ITV1. England v Argentina in World Cup 1998 drew a massive 24.1m viewers, nearly 10m more people than last Sunday's match.
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