Euro 2004 Most Popular Tournament Since World Cup 1998
Euro 2004 is the most popular international football tournament since the World Cup 1998 with a cumulative average audience of more than 2.5 billion individuals, according to new research from Initiative Media.
The elimination of big teams such as England, France, Germany and Italy in the early stages led to widespread concern of a possible drop in viewer interest in the rest of the tournament. However, the latest ViewerTrack study shows that audiences remained strong right up to the final.
The viewing audience increased as the tournament progressed through its 31 matches. Around 14% of those surveyed across 52 countries watched the group games, 17% watched the quarter finals, 20% saw the semi-finals and 25% tuned in to see Greece defeat home nation Portugal in the final.
France’s sensational comeback victory over England in the first round of the tournament is currently the most popular match of the championship with a cumulative audience of more than 117 million viewers. However, data has not yet been collated from Russia, which attracts an average audience of 27 million individuals per match.
| Euro 2004 Tournament | ||
| Rank | Match | Audience (000) |
| 1 | France vs England | 117,891 |
| 2 | Germany vs Holland | 111,210 |
| 3 | Russia vs Portugal | 110,061 |
| 4 | Portugal vs Greece | 104,240 |
| 5 | Portugal vs England | 99,719 |
| 6 | Italy vs Sweden | 99,371 |
| 7 | Croatia vs France | 98,038 |
| 8 | Denmark vs Italy | 93,196 |
| 9 | Portugal vs Holland | 92,783 |
| 10 | Spain vs Russia | 91,122 |
| Source: ViewerTrack | ||
The most popular global sporting event of 2003 was the Super Bowl, which attracted a cumulative average audience of 93 million people across 49 countries. However, it looks as though around half of all matches at Euro 2004 will be more popular than last year’s biggest sporting event.
Last month Initiative Media’s ViewerTrack study revealed that car manufacturer Hyundai is winning the Euro 2004 sponsorship war with its on-pitch advertising gaining more exposure than any other of the tournament’s official sponsors (see England’s Euro 2004 Defeat To Make Viewing History).
Initiative Media: 020 7663 7000 www.initiativemedia.com
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