RECORD U.S. AUDIENCE FOR EUROPEAN SOCCER FINAL
By Douglas Pucci
Follow @SonOfTheBronx
The championship match of UEFA EURO 2012, which took place on Sunday July 1st on ESPN and where Spain defeated Italy 4-0, became the most-watched European Football Championship game in the U.S. with 4.068 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. This is an 8 percent jump from the previous European Football Championship record, which was 3.761 million for the EURO 2008 final on ABC on Sunday, June 29, 2008.
The top 10 metered markets for July 1st’s Final:
1. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (6.5)
2. New York (5.8)
3. Los Angeles (4.9)
4. San Francisco (4.4)
4. Austin, Texas (4.4)
4. San Diego (4.4)
7. Dallas-Ft. Worth (4.2)
8. Providence, R.I. (4.1)
9. Richmond, Va. (3.9)
10. Las Vegas (3.4)
Throughout the 31 matches of the three-week tournament, ESPN delivered an average of 993,000 households and 1.3 million viewers — up 51 percent in households and viewers, respectively, versus 31 matches in 2008 (657,000 households and 859,000 viewers).
The top 10 metered markets for the entire UEFA EURO 2012 tournament (31 matches):
1. New York (2.1)
2. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (2.0)
3. Providence (1.7)
4. Los Angeles (1.5)
5. San Francisco (1.4)
5. Washington, DC (1.4)
7. Las Vegas (1.3)
7. Richmond, Va. (1.3)
7. Austin (1.3)
7. San Diego (1.3)
On ESPN’s Spanish language sports network, ESPN Deportes, the EURO 2012 Final scored the network’s highest-rated, most-watched telecast ever, with a 12.9 Hispanic household coverage rating, and 1.125 million Hispanic viewers – up 28 percent compared to ESPN Deportes coverage of the UEFA EURO 2008 final (10.1). It is also the second highest-rated European soccer match ever on a Spanish-language sports cable network.
The 27 live EURO 2012 matches that aired on ESPN Deportes, averaged a 4.2 Hispanic household coverage rating, with 324,000 viewers – up 50 percent and 138 percent, respectively, versus 26 live matches in 2008 (2.8 Hispanic household coverage rating, and 136,000 viewers).
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