Knockout round viewership dips in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom in-home TV audiences have fallen compared with the England-Sweden match, according to Kevin Alavy, senior analyst at Initiative Futures.

Initiative's most recent ViewerTrack shows England's first match of the knock-out stages, against Ecuador, attracted an average programme audience of 14.2 million in the United Kingdom. This was higher than England's opening two matches against Paraguay ( 8.8 million) and Trinidad & Tobago (11.3 million), but barely failed to equal the England-Swedenaudience of 14.4 million.

There are adifferent possibilities for the ratings lag. The Sweden match was arguably a more exciting contest. Initiative's previous ViewerTrack studies have all shown how audiences respond to more competitive matches and more goals.

Another reason could be that England-Ecuador kicked off at 4 p.m. Sunday when fewer people typically watch TV, as opposed to an 8 p.m. midweek kick-off against Sweden. England-Ecuador drew a considerably larger audience share at 75 percent, compared to 58 percent for England-Sweden.

It is likely that the out-of-home audience was larger than for England-Sweden. Initiative's Real Youth Panel has shown that people are more likely to opt for out-of-home viewing on a Sunday afternoon than on a weeknight.

The in-home audience for England's second round match in 2006 is also lower than for the same stage at the past two World Cups. England's second round match against Denmark in 2002 drew an average programme audience of 15.7 million, simulcast on BBC One and ITV1. England-Argentina in 1998 drew a massive 24.1 million viewers.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.