Over 10 million watch EURO 2024 opener live on ITV

Over 10 million watch EURO 2024 opener live on ITV

Germany v Scotland scores highest peak audience of any opening match of major tournament in a decade

The match peaked at 10.4 million viewers on ITV1 and ITVX

Marks highest peak audience of any TV programme in 2024 - including Eurovision

More than 10 million viewers watched ITV’s live and exclusive Euro 2024 kick-off match between Germany and Scotland - the highest peak audience of any opening to a major football tournament in a decade.

On ITV1 and ITVX the match peaked with 10.4 million, with an average of 9.1 million watching the match itself from kick-off to final whistle, and an average of six million for the coverage overall.

The peak gives the match the highest peak audience of a tournament kick-off on ITV or the BBC since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, while the coverage average is the highest for an opener of the Euros since France v Romania at Euro 2016.

As always with a live event ITV had a tech team monitoring and all ITV-operated systems across broadcast and streaming had no issues on any ITVX live streaming platforms throughout the coverage.

Led by main presenter Mark Pougatch along with Laura Woods, ITV’s star-studded Euros squad offers a wealth of insight, expertise and opinion from a punditry line-up of Ian Wright, Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Karen Carney, Graeme Souness, Eni Aluko, Gael Clichy, Joleon Lescott, Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou, Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Röhl and refereeing analyst Christina Unkel.

Following the opening game, ITV will show England’s final Group game against Slovenia and will have picks one, two and three of the Round of 16 as well as first pick of the Semi-finals.

ITV will show what is likely to be one of the most anticipated early tournament games - the Group B match between Spain, who are among the favourites, and Italy, the holders. ITV’s Group stage coverage includes games featuring many pundits’ favourites, France [against Austria on 17 June] as well as other heavy-hitters in Portugal [v Turkey on 22 June], Croatia [v Spain on 15 June] and Belgium [v Slovakia on 17 June].

Moving into the knockout rounds, ITV will have the first three picks, plus the fifth and seventh picks from the Round of 16 ties, the second and fourth Quarter-final picks and first pick of the Semi-finals. Both ITV and the BBC will show the Final. All ITV games will be shown on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.

These ratings are based on BARB overnights combined with non-TV viewing data. Full ITVX viewing figures will be available soon.

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