Women's World Cup: England Smash TV Viewing Records (Again) During Win Over Norway

England's Women's World Cup quarter-final over Norway on Thursday night drew a television audience in the UK that peaked at a record-breaking 7.6m, setting a new national TV viewing record for women's football for the third time in less than three weeks.

The contest was broadcast live on BBC One, with the corporation reporting the peak figure to be 38.6% of the available audience, and that the match average was 6.8m viewers.

Prior to this summer, the record TV audience for women's football in the UK had been the four million who watched England face Netherlands in the Euro 2017 semi-finals.

But the opening Group D match between England and Scotland at this summer's tournament drew a huge new UK record of 6.1m peak audience. The record was then pushed even higher to 6.9m for the Lionesses' first knockout game against Cameroon last weekend.

Now at 7.6m, it is testament to the growing popularity of women's football in the UK and evidence of the increasing national support behind the team as they aim for World Cup glory.

And with England set to face either France or the United States in the semi-final next Tuesday evening, there is a very real chance the UK audience could surpass eight million.

As far as the Norway game itself was concerned, England took a commanding early lead when Jill Scott found the net after just a couple of minutes. Golden Boot contender Ellen White then bagged her fifth of the tournament, before Lucy Bronze crashed in a third.

It could even have been 4-0, but Nikita Parris saw a late penalty saved by Ingrid Hjelmseth.

The semi-final will be played in Lyon, where Bronze has called home since 2017. Parris will also be making the move to the all-conquering French club side after the tournament.