Rugby League Results: Challenge Cup Semi-Finals Draw Mixed Viewership Figures
The viewership figures for this year’s Challenge Cup semi-finals were a mixed bag, with a stark contrast between the two fixtures.
On Sunday, the semi-final clash between Warrington and Huddersfield attracted a peak audience of 337,000 and an average of around 260,000 viewers. While respectable, the numbers paled in comparison to the game played a day earlier.
In the Saturday afternoon fixture, Wigan Warriors delivered a dominant performance to defeat Hull KR and secure their place at Wembley. The game, televised on BBC1 in a primetime slot, drew an impressive average of nearly 500,000 viewers, peaking at 540,000. This amounted to an audience share of 9.6%, indicating that rugby league commanded close to a tenth of the entire viewership during that time slot.
The BBC Rugby League on TV Twitter account, which frequently reports on audience figures, provided the detailed viewership statistics for the Wigan-Hull KR encounter.
However, the Sunday semi-final between Warrington and Huddersfield, aired on BBC2, recorded a much lower audience share of just 3.7%. The fact that the game coincided with the final day of the Premier League season may have contributed to the relatively lower viewership.
As the Challenge Cup final between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves approaches in June, there are high hopes that the prestigious match-up can command a significant share of the audience and build on the encouraging figures from the Saturday semi-final.
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