Football most popular live mobile video genre in UK over festive season
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| 05 January 2019

Continuing a trend first seen a year ago, football dominated the most-watched live TV moments on mobile this Christmas and New Year in the UK, taking nine of the top ten positions according to research from EE.

The telecoms operator, now a part of BT, said the findings reflect a year-on-year growth in mobile video, with data volumes peaking in 2018. The company surveyed was based on total maximum data volume per 5 minutes for live TV viewed on mobile (excluding red button content) from Christmas Eve 2018 to New Year’s Day 2019.

Leading the pack was coverage on BT Sport of Premier League leaders Liverpool’s 5-1 demolition of rivals Arsenal, featuring yet another goal from Mohammed Salah (pictured). The mighty Reds — whose led the previous season’s ratings with a Boxing Day 2017 five-goal rout of Swansea City— were followed by coverage of Manchester United’s win against Bournemouth a day later and the Glasgow derby between Rangers and Celtic. Also scoring well in fourth overall place was the Brighton and Hove Albion’s Boxing Day game with the aforementioned Arsenal.

EE found that BBC’s New Year coverage polled as the highest non-football viewing, coming in at position six in the top ten. Flagship BBC soap Eastenders played home to the second most popular viewing outside of sport, ranking ahead of the Queen’s annual Christmas Day speech.