84% of UK watched sport on BBC this summer
August 26, 2021
From the FA Cup final in May to the inaugural men’s and women’s Hundred cricket finals in August, millions of viewers across the UK have tuned into the BBC to enjoy a busy summer of sport in 2021.
The total television reach during this period was 50.8 million, meaning 84 per cent of the UK’s population watched sport on the BBC, who were there to deliver countless hours of live coverage from the summer Olympics, Euro 2020, Wimbledon, The Hundred, Rugby League Challenge Cup, Swimming European Championships, Diamond League Athletics, International T20 Cricket, Queens and Eastbourne Tennis, Formula E, Golf and more.
Along with the successful broadcast TV figures, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online also saw a surge in demand to watch the sporting action which was streamed 253 million times throughout summer.
Demand for listening to all the action peaked too, with 35.1 million plays of those sporting moments from the BBC’s dedicated radio and commentary teams.
Online, an average of 23 million unique visitors per week came to the BBC Sport website and app for news, live coverage, highlights and reports. This peaked at 32.2 million visitors at the beginning of July as England men progressed through to the Euro 2020 semi-final and into the final.
Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, commented: “This summer will go down as one of the most memorable in recent times. Not just for the sport, but for the incredibly challenging situations our colleagues worked through to ensure it was enjoyed by the widest possible audience. The medal haul for Team GB, England men making the Euro final, Oval Invicibles and Southern Brave winning The Hundred and 18-year-old Emma Raducanu becoming the youngest British woman to make the Wimbledon last 16 were just some of the big moments brought to life by the BBC. This summer once again demonstrated the uniting power of free-to-air sport.”