14m UK TV Viewers Drawn By Liverpool, Man U Defeats

Liverpool and Manchester United’s devastating defeats on Sunday saw Sky Sports record figures representing their best viewed day.The broadcaster confirmed to The Independent that more than 14m viewers tuned in to their channels on a day which saw the Premier League champions suffer an incredible 7-2 defeat away at Aston Villa and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United blown away 6-1 at home by Tottenham.The number also includes viewing figures from Arsenal’s 2-1 victory against Sheffield United in the mid-afternoon kick-off, with all three games helping provide an average audience across all channels of 933 000 with viewers watching more than 95 minutes of action.Figures peaked at 3,3m, just 25 minutes into United’s equal worst defeat in the Premier League era, as Anthony Martial was sent off shortly before Harry Kane put Spurs 3-1 down up.The figures, however, fall short of the most-watched match of the Premier League era, which came three months ago on the BBC.“These viewing numbers show the importance of sport to our viewers,’’ said Sky Sports managing director Rob Webster.“At a time when the UK is spending more time at home, I’m delighted that our teams are able to showcase a choice of world-class sporting content from around the world.’’The figures were provided by Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (Barb), the UK’s leading data providers of television viewership, which is part-owned by six TV stations including Sky and Channel 4.Figures were also supplemented by Celtic’s match against St Johnstone, the Vitality Blast Finals day at Edgbaston and coverage of the Indian Premier League, as well as golf from the European Tour, PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour. DailyMail