Saturday’s truncated version of Match of the Day generated the reveals largest viewers in 5 months.
After MOTD anchor Gary Lineker was suspended by the BBC for allegedly breaching the company’s impartiality pointers with a tweet about British authorities asylum coverage, the present’s pundits and commentators pulled out in solidarity with their colleague.
In consequence, the programme was stripped to the naked bones, operating for simply 20 minutes and consisting solely of transient highlights of the day’s Premier League motion with no commentary or studio evaluation; even the long-lasting title music was lacking.
It was an intriguing watch, to say the least, and the unprecedented format seems to have piqued the general public’s curiosity, with Barb – the organisation answerable for measuring UK tv audiences – reporting a surge in viewers.
BBC leisure correspondent Lizo Mzimba tweeted:
“Final evening’s Match of the Day was watched by 2.58m TV viewers on BBC One. Up almost half one million on final Saturday’s determine of two.09 million based on Barb overnights.
“It is the present’s largest viewers since fifth November 2022 when 2.63m watched.”
Saturday’s editions of Soccer Focus and Ultimate Rating have been taken off air after presenters and reporters pulled out, whereas Radio 5 Dwell’s sport schedule was additionally closely impacted.
The disruption has continued into Sunday, with Match of the Day 2 and reside protection of the Ladies’s Tremendous League sport between Chelsea and Manchester United set to be “much-reduced” (opens in new tab).
