By Umang Poddar, Joel Turner and Javi Tres

The United Kingdom experienced its most action-packed summer sporting weekend of the year on July 5 and 6. From tennis courts to rugby pitches, fans across the country were treated to a thrilling array of events. To better understand public sentiment, viewing habits, and social media engagement, YouGov focused on eight of the most high-profile competitions from the weekend.

These standout events included:

  1. Wimbledon (Rounds 3 & 4)
  2. British Formula 1 Grand Prix
  3. India vs England, Days 4 & 5 of Test Match #2
  4. Tour de France, Stages 1 & 2
  5. France vs England, UEFA Women’s Euros
  6. FIFA Club World Cup Quarterfinals
  7. Rugby Union: Argentina vs England
  8. British & Irish Lions vs NSW Waratahs

Using its comprehensive insight ecosystem—ranging from awareness metrics to minute-by-minute TV viewership data and social media analysis—YouGov tracked how audiences navigated this crowded sports calendar. The findings revealed how national pride, accessibility, and compelling storylines influenced where fans directed their attention.

Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix topped both awareness and viewership, bolstered by free-to-air coverage and strong domestic storylines. Viewership data mirrored intent, with Wimbledon’s BBC broadcast and Formula 1's qualifying race drawing major live audiences on Saturday. Social media activity also crowned these two events, with real-time engagement surging as outcomes unfolded, especially Lando Norris’s long-awaited British Grand Prix win and Cam Norrie’s standout Wimbledon performance. Silverstone came on the back of the hype of both its long-standing Netflix series Drive to Survive and the F1 movie that released last month, starring Brad Pitt.

The TV viewership metrics confirm what the respondents expected of themselves. On Saturday, Wimbledon, through its BBC broadcasts led the charts, followed by England Women’s football game against France. Despite it not being Raceday, Formula 1’s Qualifying Race made it to the top 3, gathering live audiences from Channel 4 and Sky Sports. Formula 1 was the only event covered live by both free-to-air and cable broadcasters this weekend.

Generational Split in Preferences

Club World Cup viewership numbers from both DAZN and Channel 5 confirm that the Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund game was the most viewed fixture of that tournament on Saturday, given the boost of additional free-to-air broadcasting via Channel 5.

YouGov’s survey revealed generational divides in viewing priorities.

  • 18–24-year-olds were the only age group to favour the Club World Cup over Wimbledon.
  • From 25+, Wimbledon dominated across age brackets.
  • Among 55+, the India vs England Test match emerged as the second most popular event—though it failed to crack the top four among younger audiences.

Kick-off times also played a major role in audience numbers. The Chelsea vs Palmeiras match, which aired at 2 a.m. UK time on Saturday, drew an average of just 16,000 viewers during its two-hour DAZN broadcast. In contrast, PSG vs Bayern Munich, with a more favourable 5 p.m. kick-off later that same day, attracted five times the audience over the same two-hour window on DAZN.

Awareness Gaps & Gender Disputes

Unawareness for the listed events was more uniform across demographics. The Rugby Union game between England & Argentina, and the British Lions’ fixture against the Waratahs flew most under the radar, with 36% and 42% of survey respondents respectively stating awareness of the fixtures. The sentiment is backed by the TV viewership data, where the Rugby games delivered minimal audience viewership compared to the other events of the weekend that YouGov tracked.

Awareness varied sharply across events and demographics. Amongst women:

  • The Club World Cup (41%) and British Grand Prix (47%) saw the lowest awareness
  • Wimbledon (76%), Tour de France (73%), and UEFA Women’s Euros (71%) had the highest.

Women were generally less aware of the weekend’s events, though the gap differed by sport. For the India vs England Test match, 36% of women were aware, compared to 56% of men. Notably, more women were aware of the Women’s Euros compared to the Club World Cup, hinting that the tournament may be better reaching its intended audience.

How the UK Chose to Watch

YouGov’s consumer survey asked the respondents how they expected to follow the events that they intended to follow, with the following options to select:

  • Watch live on TV / streaming platforms
  • Watch highlights online
  • Read about online
  • Follow on social media
  • Watch out of home (e.g., at a bar, pub office, fan zone)
  • Other
  • Don’t know

Nearly 80% of respondents who intended to follow Wimbledon planned to watch it live on TV or streaming platforms. Contact sports-driven events such as the Euros football, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the Rugby Union clash against Argentina drew the most interest for out-of-home viewing. In contrast, multi-day events like the Tour de France and the India Test match scored highest where followers chose to track the event via highlights.

Saturday Night Showdown

Saturday evening was a particularly cannibalistic time on UK television. Wimbledon, the Euros and the Club World Cup fixture between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund came head-to-head, with Argentina v England Rugby also scheduled on Sky Sports.

Tracking minute-by-minute audiences on the respective channels shows us how viewers jumped across the channels on Saturday evening. The UEFA Euros game between England and France was the hero event of the evening. The spike in audiences on ITV1 closer to kick-off underlines the popularity of the event, cannibalizing over Wimbledon on BBC1. While Channel 5 also witnessed a sharp decline around the same time (8pm), it might have partly been a function of the end of “Edward & Sophie: The Reliable Royals” documentary and the start of the Club World Cup coverage.

Who Ruled Social Media?

The volume of mentions across social media for the eight events further confirm the hold that Wimbledon and Formula 1 had over the UK masses. While Wimbledon maintains a steady flow of mentions across the weekend, Formula 1 is expectedly driven (excuse the pun) by events and outcomes in real time. The peaks on Saturday and Sunday for Formula 1 confirm the same, with Formula 1 speeding away with the social media hype once the drama-filled, rain-soaked race began on Sunday.

Unsurprisingly, the culmination of sporting events was the key driver of social media content across the weekend, with the final moments drawing peaks in online participation. Despite the likes of Djokovic, Sinner, Świątek, and Alcaraz all taking to Wimbledon’s centre court, it was the success of British player Cam Norrie that drew the most tennis-related social media activity across the UK over the course of the weekend. The appeal of home-grown talent was also evident during Silverstone, with Lando Norris’ first British Grand Prix victory leading all talking points in an action-packed race – although an overdue Nico Hülkenberg podium finish was well represented within the F1 faithful.

Although on the Saturday, it was the 3rd Round Tennis and the UEFA Women’s Euros England match that garnered the higher television audiences than the F1 Qualifying coverage, it was in fact a different story online, with the British Grand Prix and Wimbledon each encouraging nearly twice as much cumulative online chatter than the England vs France Women’s Euro match.

By zooming in on the busiest period of the day for sport clashes (6:30pm to 11:30pm BST on 5th July) we gain a more detailed view of what drove social media engagement and when. While overall interest was higher for the British Grand Prix and Wimbledon throughout the weekend, it was two pivotal moments during the Women’s Euros match between England and France that sparked the most significant engagement spike.

Close to kick-off, just after Novak Djokovic cemented his 100th Wimbledon win, the Women’s Euros became the most talked about event on social media; with engagement peaking at full-time with 499 mentions between 22:00 and 22:14. The engagement with Euros on social media validates what YouGov gathered from its consumer surveys and observed in the television ratings from BARB.

The dramatic end to Real Madrid vs. Borussia Dortmund in the Club World Cup briefly allowed the competition to surpass Wimbledon for mentions between 23:00 and 23:14 (with play at Wimbledon over at this time), whilst an exciting second-half Rugby Union, display by England in Buenos Aires was rewarded with a spike in online activity but not to the extent of that seen across competition earlier in the day.

The Final Score

So, who won the weekend? Wimbledon and Formula 1 shared the podium—winning hearts, screens, and social feeds. But the data also revealed deeper stories: a rising Women’s Euros, generational splits in interest, and the ongoing challenge of visibility for certain formats like rugby and late-night football.

With its ability to track sentiment, viewership, and conversation in real time, YouGov offers a rare, unified lens into how sport is truly consumed, not just what’s on the schedule.