FA Cup 3rd round sets BBC viewing records
January 9, 2024
By Nik Roseveare
The FA Cup third round set viewing records on the BBC during live coverage of the celebrated football tournament on BBC TV and iPlayer.
Liverpool proved the victor over Arsenal on the evening of January 7th with a peak audience of 7.6 million on BBC One, a record number for this stage in the competition, and was streamed 2 million times on BBC iPlayer. An average audience of almost 6 million resulted in a 44 per cent share. The BBC’s other January 7th fixture, which saw Manchester City defeat Huddersfield Town, was also streamed 1.3 million times on iPlayer.
The weekend kicked off with Middlesbrough suffering defeat against Aston Villa on January 6th, which had a peak audience of 3.3 million on BBC One and average 21 per cent share.
Barbara Slater, Director BBC Sport, commented: “It’s fantastic to see record audiences come to the BBC for coverage of the FA Cup, a competition with so much history, drama and magic. We are dedicated to providing audiences with coverage from right across the tournament, from live matches on TV and iPlayer, to TV highlights and digital clips on the BBC Sport website and social media. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the competition has in store.”
The fourth round of the FA Cup, which features matches including Blackburn vs Wrexham, Ipswich vs Maidstone and Spurs vs Manchester City, will take place over the weekend of January 27th .