The Rugby World Cup final was watched by a peak of 15.8 million viewers - 60% of the audience - on Saturday night as England failed to avoid defeat against South Africa.
The audience for the game peaked in the quarter hour between 9.30pm and 9.45pm as England finally succumbed to a 15-6 defeat.
The entire match, which started at 8pm, attracted an average of 15.1 million viewers to ITV1, or a 58% share of the audience, according to unofficial overnight ratings, with 12.8 million or a 51% share tuning in for the entirety of the channel's coverage from 7.30pm to 10.15pm.
The highly anticipated game was the most watched television moment of the year so far, ITV said.
ITV has also stressed that the figures - which exceeded England's semi-final victory over France the previous Saturday, when a peak audience of just over 12 million viewers tuned in - did not account for the large amounts of people watching in pubs and clubs around the country.
ITV1 also did well before the rugby, with the first live The X Factor show winning its 5.30pm to 7.30pm slot handsomely with 6.2 million viewers and a 31% share.
The X Factor results show, which started at the delayed time of 10.15pm, drew 6.8 million viewers and a 33% share. In the face of ITV1's successful double-whammy, BBC1's schedule was not totally obliterated.
Scheduled ahead of kick-off in the rugby, between 7.15pm and 8pm, Robin Hood pulled in 5.3 million viewers and a 24% share.
This was up on last week's outing when it pulled in 5.1 million viewers, a 23% share, between 7.30pm and 8.15pm.
BBC1 drama Casualty took a bigger hit, however. Between 8.50pm and 9.40pm, it drew a below-par 4.7 million viewers and an 18% share.
Last week, the hospital drama was watched by 5.4 million viewers, a 22% share, when scheduled against against the England-France game.
After the rugby had finished, a Vicar of Dibley repeat on BBC1 picked up 4.1 million viewers and a 17% share between 9.40pm and 10.10pm.
BBC2's The Culture Show was watched by 500,000 viewers between 8pm and 9.05pm, while coverage of the Snooker Grand Prix pulled in 900,000 viewers and a 4% share between 9.05pm and 10.40pm.
A Channel 4 movie repeat of the Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts film Stepmom drew 1.1 million viewers and a 5% share between 8.10pm and 10.30pm.
On Channel Five, a double bill of crime import NCIS averaged 1 million viewers and a 4% share between 7.5pm and 8.45pm and 1.1 million at 4% between 8.45 and 9.40pm.
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