BBC's Super League play-off viewing figures revealed as Hull KR-St Helens tie draws big audience
Hull KR’s semi-final victory over St Helens on Saturday evening attracted a peak audience of 455,000 on the BBC, with the broadcaster’s viewing figures for this year’s Super League play-offs now revealed in full.
The BBC have broadcast two Super League play-off ties live free-to-air this year.
Leigh Leopards‘ 26-10 win in the eliminators at home against Wakefield Trinity on the night of Friday, September 26 came first.
Then came KR‘s semi-final success against Saints on Saturday evening, October 4.
Both of those games were also shown live by Super League‘s main broadcaster in the shape of Sky Sports, but it’s more than fair to say Saturday’s tie at Craven Park was the most successful of the two for the BBC.
BBC’s Super League play-off viewing figures revealed as Hull KR-St Helens tie draws big audience
At the eliminator stage, Leigh’s victory against Wakefield – which kicked off at 8pm – was screened live on BBC Three, which won’t have helped viewing figures.
Coverage began 15 minutes prior to kick-off, with host Tanya Arnold joined at the Leopards’ Den by guest pundits Kevin Brown and Ryan Brierley.
That clash brought an average audience of just 69,000, with a peak of 89,000 watching at one time.
Up against Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on ITV 1, among others, the eliminator tie had an audience share of just 0.6%.
KR’s success against Saints on Saturday evening kicked off at 5.30pm and was screened live on BBC Two.
Again, coverage began 15 minutes prior to the game getting underway at Craven Park, with host Arnold and pundit Brown this time around joined by Wakefield Trinity skipper Mike McMeeken as a guest.
We’ve already mentioned that the semi-final’s peak audience was in the region of 455,000, and that gives you an idea of how much better it performed than the previous Friday night’s eliminator tie.
The Robins’ victory had an average audience of 321,000 on BBC Two, and in turn had an audience share of 2.7% – with Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One and a re-run of the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 among its competitors.
Sky will have exclusive access to broadcast this weekend’s Super League Grand Final live from Old Trafford between Wigan and Hull KR.
As part of their broadcast deal, the BBC will produce an hour-long show – including highlights of the Grand Final – which will be aired on BBC Two the following day (Sunday, October 12) between 2 and 3pm.
Notably, that hour-long show will air right before live coverage of a clash from the Women’s Super League between Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion on the same channel.
