'The Match' pulls in huge audiences

A peak of more than 2.5 million viewers tuned in for the final of Sky One's celebrity football reality series The Match yesterday, according to overnight ratings figures.

The channel handed over its entire primetime schedule to coverage of the game between a team of amateur celebrities and a team of soccer legends.

The game itself, broadcast between 8pm and 10pm, averaged a massive 2.16 million viewers - a 13.8% share of the multichannel audience - making it one of Sky One's most-watched shows ever. The peak of 2.61 million viewers (18.4%) came at 10.10pm.

A preview show at 5pm had pulled in a respectable 420,000 (4.6%), peaking at 5.50pm with 544,000 (5.7%). Two episodes of ratings banker The Simpsons fared well in the 6pm hour, drawing audiences of 0.68 million (4.6%) and 1.06 million (8.9%) respectively.

The ratings spiked at 7pm for pre-match coverage, anchored by Ulrika Johnsson and Mark Durden-Smith, holding a steady 1.19 million (8.4%) average across the hour.

Post-match analysis continued to deliver high numbers in the 10pm hour, with an average of 1.66 million (12.8%).

Click here for a roundup of the ratings for other channels last night.