England Euro 2024 streaming audiences boosted by extra-time goals
Streaming audiences for England’s latest match in the Euros spiked in extra time, new research found.
According to analysis from Yospace, the dynamic ad insertion company that is working with 13 broadcasters of the Euro 2024 tournament globally, there were notable spikes after Jude Bellingham’s 95th-minute equaliser and Harry Kane’s winning goal in extra time in England’s match against Slovakia on Sunday.
This meant the ad break following the final whistle was “by far the most-watched and most valuable of all” — something that Yospace found delivered “millions of extra, unscheduled ad spots to a highly engaged audience”.
Yospace also found the majority of this growth in streaming audiences for the match were logged in from mobiles and the number of ads on mobile were almost double those during half-time breaks.
Tim Sewell, CEO at Yospace, said England’s performance so far in the competition demonstrated “the unpredictable nature of live-streaming sports”.
He explained: “Major events like Euro 2024 are defined by huge moments that capture the attention of viewers everywhere, on top of the high concurrent audiences you normally see for high-profile sports.
“As knockout tensions rise during the tournament, advertisers and broadcasters will need to be able to scale up their capabilities at a moment’s notice and be prepared for the brilliance of Bellingham’s 95th-minute equaliser.”
ITV reported the match in question attracted “the biggest television audience on any UK channel for 18 months” with a peak of 18.4m watching England’s extra-time victory against Slovakia across ITV1 and ITVX on all devices.
From kick-off to final whistle, ITV figures found the match was watched by 15.6m, with 66% of the available TV audience tuning into the coverage, including an 89% share for 16-34s.
The total ITV coverage was watched by 11.3m which was ITV ranked as its biggest since the 2022 World Cup, contributing to its best Sunday audience figures for more than 10 years.
A trend for bigger games?
Doug Whelpdale, Barb’s head of insight, thought this trend of a spike late in a match “seems probable” — for bigger games, at least.
He told The Media Leader: “Audiences to football matches tend to build through the game for big games like an international featuring England, Champions League final or FA Cup final.”
However, he hypothesised that the same “may not be true” for a Premier League game between two smaller sides and noted that the “more casual fan” does not tend to care if they miss the first 10 minutes or maybe even the first half.
Whelpdale added: “Certainly, if the game is close or important, the audience tends to build even more. You also see it fall away if a team are losing 1-0, say, and concede another goal as people give up.”