{"id":529628,"date":"2026-04-14T03:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529628\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T03:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:03:12","slug":"challenge-cup-quarter-final-bbc-viewing-figures-reported-as-grand-national-hampers-hull-kr-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529628\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Cup quarter-final BBC viewing figures reported as Grand National hampers Hull KR audience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2400\" height=\"1600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AW6_3999.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The TV viewing figures for the Challenge Cup quarter-finals aired on the BBC have been revealed with one game faring far better than the other.<\/p>\n<p>All four quarter-finals were available to watch with St Helens versus Catalans Dragon and Warrington Wolves\u2019 win over Leigh Leopards shown on Super League+ on a pay-per-view basis, however, it\u2019s the free-to-air audience on the BBC that is so valuable to the Challenge Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s game saw Hull <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rovers-on-a-roll-yorks-squad-depth-mikey-lewis-and-more-hull-kr-v-york-knights-talking-points-114276\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">KR cruise past York Knights with a 48-10 win<\/a> whilst Sunday\u2019s game was the best of all the quarter-finals with Wigan Warriors edging Wakefield Trinity 26-22 in a classic.<\/p>\n<p>There was plenty of needle in that match and that\u2019s been evident with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league-news-jazz-tevaga-harry-smith-verdict-three-super-league-stars-banned-disciplinary-wrap-114315\/#google_vignette\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">disciplinary verdict confirming a two-match ban for Jazz Tevaga<\/a> with Wigan pair Harry Smith and Sam Walters both banned for three matches.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s now been reported by Rugby League on TV that the game drew an impressive audience that averaged 423,000, representing 7.2% of the audience share.<\/p>\n<p>Those are very impressive numbers and they massively overshadow Saturday\u2019s quarter-final which drew an average audience of just 125,000 at a 2.2% audience share.<\/p>\n<p>There is plenty of mitigation in those numbers, a key one being that Wakefield versus Wigan was aired on BBC One whilst Hull KR\u2019s win over York was on BBC Two.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Saturday\u2019s game had to compete against the Grand National festival with horse racing live on ITV throughout the afternoon as the coverage built up to the big race at 4:00 pm.<\/p>\n<p>The Women\u2019s Six Nations was also shown on BBC One at the same time, meaning the Challenge Cup clash had big competition for eyeballs.<\/p>\n<p>Audience figures are only expected to ramp up as we go further into the competition with last year\u2019s final, aired live on BBC One, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/challenge-cup-tv-ratings-provide-big-boost-as-bbc-figures-revealed-105224\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">drawing an average audience of around one million<\/a> with a peak of 1.2 million. The semi-finals of the competition will be played on the weekend of May 9th and 10th with the final to be played later in the month on the 30th.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Viewing Figures for Cup Ties.<\/p>\n<p>Hull KR v York (Saturday \u2013 BBC TWO)<br \/>125,000 Average \/ 2.2% Audience Share<br \/>(30% Audience Share was between ITV (Grand National) &amp; BBC 1 (Womens Six Nations)<\/p>\n<p>Wakefield v Wigan (Sunday \u2013 BBC ONE)<br \/>423.000 Average \/ 7.2% Audience Share<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RugbyLeagueonTV.com (@rugbyleagueontv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rugbyleagueontv\/status\/2043633800052105705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768085712_213_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The TV viewing figures for the Challenge Cup quarter-finals aired on the BBC have been revealed with one&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-529628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}