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World Cup ratings reach huge numbers
World Cup 2006 - 14 June, 2006
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Millions of Europeans tuned in during the weekend to watch the opening matches of the World Cup.
The tournament is drawing a record number of soccer fans, with TV, broadband and mobile audiences going into the hundreds of millions. The event is more widely available than ever before, with the highest number of broadcasters - more than 500 - in the history of the World Cup.
For the first time, some mobile phone users with 3G handsets in Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. can watch matches and highlights on their cell phones. Mobile operators, however, have not provided solid viewing numbers.
In host nation Germany, 20.1 million viewers tuned into ZDF to watch the Germans defeat Costa Rica. The rating represents a 75.7 percent share and does not include the thousands who watched the match in pubs and at outdoor screenings around the country.
"We are as overjoyed with the ratings as we are with the performance of the German team," ZDF program head Nikolaus Brender said. "Football fever has officially broken out in Germany."
ZDF easily won the day’s ratings with a 38.7 percent market share, as German viewers tuned in for pregame and postgame shows. Sister channel ARD didn't hit the same mark with its Saturday broadcasts, but still drew 7.2 million viewers watching England beat Paraguay for a 55.4 percent market share.
Eight of 10 available British viewers watched BBC1's coverage of England's opening match, which drew an audience of 12 million and gave the network an 84 percent share from 2-4 p.m. As is the case with Germany’s numbers, the English ratings can’t account for the people who watched the match at a pub or any of the many large outdoor gatherings.
Spanish broadcast newcomer La Sexta, which reportedly laid out EUR 90 million for the rights to the World Cup, decided to simulcast "general interest" matches with rival broadcaster and fellow newcomer Cuatro.
Cuatro, which is easily available on free-to-air sets, captures 23.8 percent of the audience for Germany-Costa Rica, while La Sexta had only 6.4 percent.
In France, TF1 reported 3.42 million viewers for the opening ceremony of the World Cup, an audience market share of 42.4 percent. For the Germany-Costa Rica game, the channel estimated viewership of 6.11 million, a 44.5 percent market share.
Ratings are not available in Italy yet, but evidence points to as much mania as the other European countries.
According to the Italian media, bars are extending hours to coincide with programming for earlier games, and circulation of the country's major sports-related newspaper, Gazetta dello Sport, has been up a reported 10 percent since the tournament began.
News Corp.'s Sky Italia satellite TV service says subscriptions are on the rise compared with the normal summer slowdown. And the country's three leading cellular phone providers - which are offering access to World Cup matches via high-tech DVB-H technology - said their new service is a hit.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch opening match had 5.4 million viewers, according to Dutch TV ratings agency Stichting Kijkonderzoek. That number also only applies to the people watching at home and also excludes viewers in outdoor venues. The tournament's opening match between Germany and Costa Rica drew 2.7 million viewers.
Worldwide numbers likely will be boosted by the licensing for the first time of World Cup games to Korea in a deal with the Korean Broadcasting Commission. The deal was announced Monday by Oliver Seibert, an executive director of Infront Sports & Media, which markets the broadcast rights to World Cup.
It was too early to see the impact of non-traditional media.
"It won't be possible to get numbers for a while," a spokeswoman for mobile network 3 in the U.K. said.
In Spain, where mobile operator Telefonica is offering the service free to its 400,000 3G customers, a spokesman said: "We don't expect the numbers to be very significant. At the moment it’s very much a promotional tool."
Live streaming broadband services also are available, led by such public broadcasters as the BBC, which is offering all of its World Cup matches free and live over the Internet. Again, ratings figures are harder to come by.
"We won't have ratings figures until the end of the week; it's a much more complex process (than television)," a BBC spokeswoman said. "At the moment, we're just glad that the whole system hasn't crashed."
The tournament is drawing a record number of soccer fans, with TV, broadband and mobile audiences going into the hundreds of millions. The event is more widely available than ever before, with the highest number of broadcasters - more than 500 - in the history of the World Cup.
For the first time, some mobile phone users with 3G handsets in Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. can watch matches and highlights on their cell phones. Mobile operators, however, have not provided solid viewing numbers.
In host nation Germany, 20.1 million viewers tuned into ZDF to watch the Germans defeat Costa Rica. The rating represents a 75.7 percent share and does not include the thousands who watched the match in pubs and at outdoor screenings around the country.
"We are as overjoyed with the ratings as we are with the performance of the German team," ZDF program head Nikolaus Brender said. "Football fever has officially broken out in Germany."
ZDF easily won the day’s ratings with a 38.7 percent market share, as German viewers tuned in for pregame and postgame shows. Sister channel ARD didn't hit the same mark with its Saturday broadcasts, but still drew 7.2 million viewers watching England beat Paraguay for a 55.4 percent market share.
Eight of 10 available British viewers watched BBC1's coverage of England's opening match, which drew an audience of 12 million and gave the network an 84 percent share from 2-4 p.m. As is the case with Germany’s numbers, the English ratings can’t account for the people who watched the match at a pub or any of the many large outdoor gatherings.
Spanish broadcast newcomer La Sexta, which reportedly laid out EUR 90 million for the rights to the World Cup, decided to simulcast "general interest" matches with rival broadcaster and fellow newcomer Cuatro.
Cuatro, which is easily available on free-to-air sets, captures 23.8 percent of the audience for Germany-Costa Rica, while La Sexta had only 6.4 percent.
In France, TF1 reported 3.42 million viewers for the opening ceremony of the World Cup, an audience market share of 42.4 percent. For the Germany-Costa Rica game, the channel estimated viewership of 6.11 million, a 44.5 percent market share.
Ratings are not available in Italy yet, but evidence points to as much mania as the other European countries.
According to the Italian media, bars are extending hours to coincide with programming for earlier games, and circulation of the country's major sports-related newspaper, Gazetta dello Sport, has been up a reported 10 percent since the tournament began.
News Corp.'s Sky Italia satellite TV service says subscriptions are on the rise compared with the normal summer slowdown. And the country's three leading cellular phone providers - which are offering access to World Cup matches via high-tech DVB-H technology - said their new service is a hit.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch opening match had 5.4 million viewers, according to Dutch TV ratings agency Stichting Kijkonderzoek. That number also only applies to the people watching at home and also excludes viewers in outdoor venues. The tournament's opening match between Germany and Costa Rica drew 2.7 million viewers.
Worldwide numbers likely will be boosted by the licensing for the first time of World Cup games to Korea in a deal with the Korean Broadcasting Commission. The deal was announced Monday by Oliver Seibert, an executive director of Infront Sports & Media, which markets the broadcast rights to World Cup.
It was too early to see the impact of non-traditional media.
"It won't be possible to get numbers for a while," a spokeswoman for mobile network 3 in the U.K. said.
In Spain, where mobile operator Telefonica is offering the service free to its 400,000 3G customers, a spokesman said: "We don't expect the numbers to be very significant. At the moment it’s very much a promotional tool."
Live streaming broadband services also are available, led by such public broadcasters as the BBC, which is offering all of its World Cup matches free and live over the Internet. Again, ratings figures are harder to come by.
"We won't have ratings figures until the end of the week; it's a much more complex process (than television)," a BBC spokeswoman said. "At the moment, we're just glad that the whole system hasn't crashed."
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