Saturday night’s much-changed Match of the Day show was watched by 2.6 million viewers which saw an increase of 500,000 from the previous week despite all the controversy surrounding the show.
That is according to BBC News via the Daily Star as the Premier League highlights programme was viewed by nearly half a million more than last Saturday’s show despite being radically different.
Match of the Day ran for only 20 minutes and did not include accompanying commentary or analysis from pundits or even its famous theme tune – instead broadcasted only short highlight clips of the day’s matches similar to that of Sky Sports.
This was a result of the saga regarding Gary Lineker as the former footballer has been temporarily removed from his duties regarding the highlights show due to a tweet that criticised the British government and that brought about solidarity from his fellow professionals and friends.
When Lineker and company will be back on Match of the Day is unknown as the saga still rolls on but it is easy to explain the viewing figures.
Due to the coverage this story got, it is highly likely that more people tuned in to see how the show would look without everything normally attached to it removed.
Last night’s episode of the highlights show was a one-off and therefore, was always likely to do bigger numbers, and the 2.6 million doesn’t even include the regular viewers who decided to boycott it.