The Ashes: Millions tune in to BBC coverage of England v Australia

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Australia celebrating with the Ashes trophyImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Holders Australia retained the men's Ashes after the five-Test series ended 2-2

Millions more people tuned in to BBC Sport's coverage of the men's and women's Ashes series compared to the previous home men's series in 2019.

There were 27.3 million listening requests for Test Match Special on BBC Sounds or the BBC Sport website, a 12.6m increase from four years ago.

Nearly 60m people viewed video clips, a 25.2m increase on the 2019 series.

There were also nearly 500m page views on the BBC Sport website and 194m views on social media.

"Whether it was via BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport website, social or BBC TV and iPlayer, we provided more ways than ever for audiences to keep up the with all the Ashes action this summer," said director of BBC Sport Barbara Slater.

"Both the men's and women's series provided edge of the seat moments and these impressive figures demonstrate how we are using different BBC platforms to bring audiences the biggest sporting moments wherever they are."

Australia retained the men's Ashes after their five-match Test series with England ended 2-2.

The Australia women's team also retained the Ashes after their points-based multi-format series finished 8-8.

The biggest day of the men's Ashes series was the fifth day of the first test at Edgbaston with over 1.7m listening requests for TMS. There were over 1.2m listening requests for the women's Ashes.

Today at the Test on BBC Two, BBC Four and iPlayer had a total TV reach of 8.3m, with the highest overnight reach of 2m on BBC Two coinciding with the final day of the fifth test of the men's Ashes at the Oval.