Advertisers, who bought the bulk of available airtime months in advance, did so on the basis that the series would be only a little more popular than last summer’s home series against the West Indies.
But that turned out to be an underestimate, reports the UK's Times newspaper.
A spokeswoman for the free-to-air broadcaster said: “If only the market was different. But 80 to 90 per cent of the airtime has been sold in advance and we still expect to make a loss on our coverage of the Ashes series.”
Channel 4 paid about £19million a year for the live rights to show Test cricket. Its broadcast costs are estimated at about £7.5million a year.
Before Australia arrived, Test matches were winning television audiences of 1 million to 1.5 million. Channel 4 estimated that the arrival of England’s oldest enemies would see a 25 per cent rise in viewing, taking figures to 1.25 to 1.9 million.
However, The Trent Bridge Test was watched by 8.4 million, Channel 4’s biggest audience of the year. Average viewing was 2.9 million across all the sessions of the game.
