A huge audience tuned in to watch England's famous victory over Mexico as it happened14:34, 07 Jul 2026England fans are asking the same question after the BBC announced record-breaking figures for the thrilling 3-2 win over Mexico. The 2am kick-off - an hour later than scheduled due to thunderstorms in Mexico City - was always going to test fans' stamina and loyalty ahead of a working day.‌And while the match didn't attract the numbers of a prime-time evening kick-off, it still drew an impressive live audience. The last-16 tie attracted a peak live audience of 9.1 million on BBC One, with an average audience of 7.8m.‌That more than tripled the previous record for an event on the BBC screened between 2am and 4am, set during the Rio Olympics in 2016. It also secured a huge 86 per cent share of the audience at that time, leaving some wondering what the remaining viewers were watching in the early hours of a Monday morning.‌One fan asked: "What were the 14 per cent watching?" Another said: "Who the heck was watching anything else at that time? Surely it must have been left on TVs by mistake. I watched the match, well worth staying up."Get the latest World Cup news straight to your inbox by signing up to our Make Football Great Again newsletter now!A third quipped: "The other 14 per cent were scanning through the mucky channels… ahem, so I've heard." Another asked: "What on earth are 1.1m people doing watching TV in the early hours of the morning if not staying up to watch the footie?"‌A fifth said: "It's 2am, England are on and 14 per cent of the people awake and with a TV on found something else to watch!"For the record, on terrestrial TV at the time of the match, BBC Two showed a biopic about soul singer Teddy Pendergrass, followed by an interview with Madonna by Graham Norton.‌ITV1 was broadcasting Shop on TV and the Motorsport UK magazine programme. Channel 4 showed a Googlebox repeat, followed by back-to-back episodes of The Goldbergs, while Channel 5 aired Build Your Dream Home in the Country, followed by a couple of episodes of Friends.Meanwhile, the rerun of the match on BBC Two at 7am on Monday attracted a peak audience of 1.1 million, averaging at 900,000. The BBC's match highlights have been streamed a record 5.9m times on the iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app and on the BBC Football YouTube channel.Content cannot be displayed without consent‌Footage of Harry Kane’s hilarious post-match interview with Kelly Somers – where his voice constantly cracked after he had joined his team-mates in belting out Wonderwall with England fans – was viewed 65m times, the BBC said.Saturday's quarter-final against Norway, who knocked out Brazil, will kick off at the more socialable time of 10pm UK time. ITV will show the match, which will again attract a huge audience.Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.Article continues belowContent cannot be displayed without consent