BBC Scores With Germany Win

BBC’s live coverage of Germany’s victory over Poland produced the highest TV audience of the opening Euro 2008 weekend with 4.5m viewers tuning in.

According to unofficial overnight figures, the match, which saw Germany beat Poland 2-0, was watched by a 21.2% share of the audience between 7.30pm-10pm last night.

Earlier in the evening, BBC’s live coverage of Croatia’s 1-0 win over joint tournament hosts Austria, drew 3m viewers and a 23.4% share of the audience, in the 4.40pm-7pm slot.

On Saturday, the opening game of Euro 2008, which saw joint hosts Switzerland lose 1-0 to the Czech Republic, earned BBC 3.5m viewers and a 20.4% share of the audience between 4.30pm-7pm.

Later in the evening, ITV1’s live coverage of Portugal’s 2-0 win over Turkey had 4m viewers and a 27% share of the audience between 7.15pm-10pm.

Both ITV and BBC are expected to receive significantly reduced viewing figures for Euro 2008 given England’s failure to qualify for the tournament.