ITV1’s coverage of the SIx Nations rugby match between England and France on February 8th was watched by a peak of 6 million across all devices, giving ITV1 its biggest peak audience of the year so far and helping secure ITV’s most watched weekend since Euro 2024.

The England vs France coverage averaged 4.3 million viewers across all devices, with the match itself averaging 5 million viewers.

ITV was also home to four live FA Cup Fourth Round ties including Plymouth Argyle’s shock win against Liverpool on February 9th, which delivered the biggest football peak audience of the weekend – with 4.9 million viewers and an average of 2.7 million viewers watching the coverage as a whole across ITV1 and ITVX.

Friday night’s match between Manchester United and Leicester was ITV’s biggest FA Cup match since April, based on total coverage. It averaged 3.2 million viewers and peaked with 4.4 million viewers across ITV1 and ITVX.

ITV’s weekend line-up also included The Masked Singer which peaked at 4 million viewers, with ratings up week on week and The 1% Club which had its biggest peak of the series so far with 4.4 million.

On February 9th, Unforgotten returned to screens with 3.3 million viewers, ITV’s biggest overnight audience for drama since Red Eye in April 2024.

The combination of live sport, entertainment and new drama meant it was ITV’s biggest weekend since Euro 2024 and its best Saturday since March 2024, with a 28 per cent share for 16-34s across the whole day – rising to 53 per cent for the coverage of the Six Nations match.

ITVX recorded 45 million streams over the weekend with February 9th becoming ITVX’s biggest day for streams since the Euro 2024 Semi Final between England and The Netherlands in July, with 15.7 million across the whole day, led by Love Island, Unforgotten and the FA Cup.

ITV1 showcased two live Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championship 2025 fixtures, with Italy vs Wales watched by a peak of 3.8 million (2.4 million for total coverage, 3 million for whistle to whistle).

ITV Sports coverage of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championship 2025 continues on February 22nd with England vs Scotland and February 23rd with Italy v France.

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Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Content, Research

Tags: england, itv, Liverpool, plymouth, rugby, Six Nations