BBC beats ITV in World Cup viewers

The BBC is celebrating its own World Cup victory after its match coverage of the Brazil-Germany final drew four times as many viewers as ITV.

An average of 10m tuned in to BBC1's screening of the final while 2.3m opted for the rival channel, unofficial figures show.

And Brazil's 2-0 victory gave BBC1 its highest Sunday lunchtime audience for at least a decade.

The BBC has traditionally tended to do better when both channels have been screening matches simultaneously.

On average, more than three times as many tuned in to BBC1 than ITV1 when matches were shown at the same time, a higher ratio than previous World Cups.

Peter Salmon, the BBC's director of sport, said: "The World Cup has been an outstanding tournament on the pitch and across the BBC.

"On television, interactive, radio and online, records have been broken, and we have earned the right to say that the BBC is yet again the place for the big occasion."