RUSSIA 2018: Primetime German drama at the 2018 FIFA World Cup gets top ratings

 

While Belgium’s high-scoring Group G game against Tunisia was avidly followed by the home audience, Mexico’s solid victory over Korea Republic attracted a very strong Spanish-speaking following in the United States and the drama of the evening kick-off kept viewers glued to their TV sets until the very end in Germany and Sweden.
Match Day 10: Belgium v. Tunisia, Korea Republic v. Mexico, Germany v. Sweden

• An average audience of 27.48 million viewers (36.3% TVR) watched ARD’s coverage of Germany’s must-win Group F match against Sweden in prime time (20:00 kick-off local time). This was the highest German audience of the tournament so far, beating the 25.97 million attracted for Die Mannschaft’s opening match against Mexico. Viewing peaked with 31.35 million at 21:53 local time as Toni Kroos scored Germany’s dramatic winning goal in injury time. The match was watched by 76.6% of all German television viewers at the time (share), over six times the channel’s typical share of viewing (12.1%). Just three matches at 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ had higher audiences, all of which were during the knockout stage (34.48 – Germany v. Argentina, 32.54 million – Brazil v. Germany, and 28.13 million – Germany v. Algeria). Source: ARD/ZDF
• TV4’s live primetime broadcast of Germany v. Sweden attracted an average audience of 2.63 million, which equated to a 76.2% market share. This was the highest-rated broadcast of the tournament so far on Swedish television, surpassing the 1.64 million viewers that tuned in to watch Brazil v. Switzerland from Group E, and the highest-rated sports broadcast since September 2016. Source: MMS
• US Spanish-language channel Telemundo achieved an average audience of 6.60 million viewers for its coverage of Korea Republic v. Mexico, which aired at 10:30 ET on Saturday. This was the network’s second most-watched sporting event ever (behind Mexico v. Germany last Sunday). Telemundo’s live coverage peaked at 7.61 million viewers and had a total TV reach of 9.70 million viewers. The average viewership of the match on TelemundoDeportes.com was 574,000 viewers, giving a combined TV and digital audience of 7.17 million viewers (the second highest of the tournament to date). Source: NBC 
• Korea Republic v. Mexico also aired on the English-language channel FOX and achieved an audience of 4.43 million viewers, plus an additional 213,000 viewers across FOX Sports digital platforms. Source: FOX
• Live Saturday afternoon coverage (14:00 local time) of Belgium’s second match of the tournament against Tunisia, broadcast on EEN and La Une, attracted a combined average audience of 2.99 million viewers (an impressive 57.5% TVR). 91.3% of all Belgian television viewers at the time tuned in to watch the coverage, the highest of the tournament so far in Belgium. Source: EBU

Note: Unless specifically referenced, these figures are preliminary and do not include digital streaming or out-of-home viewing. FIFA’s final audience report, available after the competition, will include audiences from all markets across all match days.