Biggest TV audience of the year for ITV’s FA Cup coverage
March 18, 2024
By Nik Roseveare
The biggest UK television audience of the year across all channels watched ITV’s free to air coverage of Manchester United’s FA Cup quarter-final win against Liverpool on March 17th with a peak of 8.6 million tuning in as the game went into extra-time. United earnt a dramatic 4-3 victory with a last gasp winner over their rivals.
The match ended a major few days of sporting events on ITV, which began on March 9th with a peak of 6.6 million viewers watching England’s late win against Ireland in the most watched game of the Six Nations tournament.
That was followed by ITV’s coverage of the Cheltenham Festival, which, on its final day on March 15th, drew its best overall audience for the full day’s show since 2021, with over 1 million viewers – the biggest average audience for the festival since 2021 when the country was in lockdown.
On ITVX, the Cheltenham Festival was streamed 3.6 million times – a 13 per cent increase on last year – and ITV’s coverage of the Six Nations was streamed 16.6 million times across the tournament, which was up by three million (23 per cent) on 2023.
ITV’s coverage of Manchester United vs Liverpool also drew the biggest audience for an FA Cup quarter-final since 2018.