Gareth Southgate's team thrashed Iran 6-2 in their opener, drawing a peak audience of 8.1million on BBC One with over 70 per cent of available viewers.
It was streamed a record eight million times on iPlayer - boosted by large numbers of office workers away from their traditional television sets at home.
But those figures were beaten by the 9.4million who watched Wales play the USA on ITV on Monday evening, according to ratings body Barb.
ITV1 hope to delight big-spending advertisers, having ditched soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street for the Three Lions' second World Cup game at the Al Bayt stadium in Doha.
This story is from the November 24, 2022 edition of Evening Standard.
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This story is from the November 24, 2022 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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