Back of the net: Euro 2020 breaks viewing records for STV

The European Championship has seen record-breaking viewing figures for Scottish broadcaster and streamer, STV and STV Player.

Euro 2020 reached 3.6 million people on the broadcast channel (World Cup 2018 was 3.5 million); and the total streams for STV Player was 3.9 million.

Sunday night’s final between England and Italy peaked at 30.95 million viewers across the UK, overnight figures show.

An average of 29.85 million watched the whole game, which was broadcast on BBC and ITV/STV, according to the figures.

Earlier in the tournament, Scotland’s much anticipated clash with England scored STV’s highest ever peak audience since records began in 2002 with a peak audience of 1.94 million, beating the moment Coronation Street killer Richard Hillman confessed his crimes to wife Gail in 2003.

STV’s coverage of the match comfortably became STV’s most watched programme of the last decade and its best watched football match ever, with an average audience of 1.38 million in Scotland, which was a 73% share of viewing.

The match itself, from whistle to whistle, drew 1.77 million and an 80% share.

Bobby Hain, MD of Broadcast at STV, said: “Euro 2020 has lifted all our spirits with STV’s coverage reaching 3.6 million people and, despite our national team exiting earlier than hoped, we’ve broken records for STV and STV Player with a nation of football fans tuning in to catch all of the action.”

Despite the Scotland national team not progressing past the group stages, a higher percentage of Scots watched the Euros, with STV tracking on average ten share points up on ITV Network.

The day of the France v Switzerland and Croatia v Spain clashes on 28 June saw the STV Player deliver its best performing day ever with more than 1m streams to the service.

And STV’s coverage of the semi-final Denmark v England match was STV Player’s most-watched live event since its launch in 2009, drawing in 494,000 streams.

Furthermore, STV Player’s average number of streams per match was higher than the 2018 World Cup, Euro 2016 and 2014 World Cup combined.

The performance of the Euros rounded off a strong first six months for STV, the best watched channel in Scotland, showing audience growth of 5% year on year.