Wigan Warriors-Wakefield tie hits BBC high as TV figures revealed

Saturday evening’s enthralling Super League play-off semi-final between Wigan Warriors and Wakefield Trinity was the most watched programme of the day on BBC Two, drawing huge viewing figures.

As the competition’s free-to-air broadcaster, the BBC opted to show the second Super League semi-final of the weekend at The Brick Community Stadium – and witnessed a shock as Wakefield produced a stunning 33-6 victory.

Scoring their 33 points unanswered after hosts Wigan scored first, Trinity toppled the side that had already lifted both the Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield this year, booking their spot in the Super League Grand Final for the first time.

They will face Warrington Wolves in next weekend’s showpiece at the Theatre of Dreams, with Sam Burgess’ side having won 14-12 at Headingley on Friday night to conquer Leeds Rhinos.

Wigan-Wakefield Super League semi-final hits BBC high as viewing figures revealed

Saturday’s broadcast on BBC Two began at 5.15pm, 15 minutes prior to kick-off, with host Tanya Arnold joined by Leigh Leopards star Josh Charnley and ex-England international Kevin Brown as pundits.

At its peak, the semi-final tie drew an audience of 451,000, a meteoric rise from the peak of 295,000 drawn the previous week for the eliminator tie between Warrington and Hull KR, also shown on BBC Two.

Wigan-Wakefield also drew an average audience of 335,000, a rise of more than 100,000 compared to that tie between Wire and reigning Super League champions KR the previous week – which had an average audience of 231,000.

And there was also a clear week-on-week rise when comparing the audience share, with Saturday evening’s broadcast having ended at 7.45pm, around 20 minutes after the final hooter.

Up against the likes of Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One and highlights of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Channel4, the semi-final tie had an audience share of 3.5%.

The previous week’s eliminator tie at the Halliwell Jones Stadium – which also kicked off at 5.30pm – drew a 2.7% audience share, meaning a rise of 0.8% week-on-week.