During the 2023 Men's Ashes series, the peak TV audience in the United Kingdom came during the final day of the 1st test. In total, 2.12 million viewers watched part of the five days of coverage broadcast on Sky Sports. While this was a record high for Sky TV since they gained the rights to broadcast the tournament, it remained way below the peak viewership recorded in 2005. That year, a peak of 8.2 million viewers tuned in to Channel 4's free-to-air coverage of the 3rd day of the 4th test.
Peak TV audience of The Men's Ashes from 2005 to 2023 in the United Kingdom
(in millions)
Statista compiled figures from the following sources:
Data for the 2005, 2009, and 2013 series were taken from this BBC article.
The figure for the 2019 tournament was taken from this article published by News18. While it was published before the 4th and 5th tests of that year's series, this article, which provided the figure for the opening three tests of the 2023 series, noted that the peak audience of 2.12 million in 2023 was an all-time high since Sky gained broadcasting rights post-2005. Statista was unable to find another figure that surpassed either the figure cited for 2019 or 2023.
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Statista. (March 2, 2025). Peak TV audience of The Men's Ashes from 2005 to 2023 in the United Kingdom (in millions) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved June 10, 2025, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1560414/peak-tv-audience-ashes-uk/
Statista. "Peak TV audience of The Men's Ashes from 2005 to 2023 in the United Kingdom (in millions)." Chart. March 2, 2025. Statista. Accessed June 10, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1560414/peak-tv-audience-ashes-uk/
Statista. (2025). Peak TV audience of The Men's Ashes from 2005 to 2023 in the United Kingdom (in millions). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: June 10, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1560414/peak-tv-audience-ashes-uk/
Statista. "Peak Tv Audience of The Men's Ashes from 2005 to 2023 in The United Kingdom (in Millions)." Statista, Statista Inc., 2 Mar 2025, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1560414/peak-tv-audience-ashes-uk/
Statista, Peak TV audience of The Men's Ashes from 2005 to 2023 in the United Kingdom (in millions) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1560414/peak-tv-audience-ashes-uk/ (last visited June 10, 2025)
Peak TV audience of The Men's Ashes from 2005 to 2023 in the United Kingdom (in millions) [Graph], Statista, March 2, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1560414/peak-tv-audience-ashes-uk/
