Giants of the game, Arsenal and Liverpool, faced one another on Sunday evening with a peak audience of 7.6 million on BBC One
The FA Cup third round smashed viewing records this weekend with millions of viewers turning to the BBC for live coverage of the oldest football competition in the world on BBC TV and iPlayer.
Giants of the game, Arsenal and Liverpool, faced one another on Sunday evening 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 44% share. The BBC’s other Sunday fixture, Manchester City v Huddersfield was also streamed 1.3m times on iPlayer.
The action-packed weekend kicked off with Middlesbrough v Aston Villa, which had a peak audience of 3.3 million on BBC One and average 21% share.
Barbara Slater, Director BBC Sport says: “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 draw will take place this evening, Monday 8 January, and is available to listen to live on BBC Radio 5 Live ahead of commentary of the final third round fixture, Wigan Athletic v Manchester United. News and highlights from across the competition are available on the BBC Sport Website and app.
Source
BBC One
