England’s dramatic 26-25 win over France was watched by a peak of 6 million viewers. (David Rogers/Getty Images)

UK commercial broadcaster ITV attracted its biggest weekend audience in almost nine months for its coverage of rugby union’s Six Nations and domestic soccer’s FA Cup knockout competitions.

England’s last-minute 26-25 Six Nations victory over France at Twickenham on Saturday (February 8) was watched by a peak of 6 million viewers across all devices, giving ITV1 its biggest peak audience of the year so far and its most-watched weekend since its coverage of the UEFA Euro 2024 national teams soccer competition last summer.

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

ITV also aired four live FA Cup fourth-round ties, including Plymouth Argyle’s shock 1-0 win against Premier League leaders Liverpool, 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 across ITV1 and the ITVX streaming service.

Friday night's match between Manchester United and Leicester City 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 live sport contributed significantly to the broadcaster’s biggest weekend since Euro 2024 and its best Saturday since March 2024.

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ITVX recorded 45 million streams over the weekend with Sunday becoming its biggest day for streams since England’s Euro 2024 semi-final in July, with 15.7 million across the whole day.

The main ITV1 channel provided coverage of two live Six Nations fixtures, with Italy vs Wales watched by a peak of 3.8 million (3 million for the match). 

ITV’s Six Nations coverage continues on February 22 with England vs Scotland and February 23 with Italy vs France.