Qatar 2022: record audiences in the US and for the final in France, sharp decline in Germany

Audience figures for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar were eagerly anticipated, both due to the timing of the competition (which was held at the end of the year for the first time, from 20/11 to 18/12/2022) and to calls for a boycott in Europe for various reasons (fatalities on the construction sites, LGBT rights, environmental issues).

Apart from Germany, the boycott was not met with much support in the main European markets. In France, an all-time audience record was even set during the Argentina-France final (25 million viewers, including 24 million on the private free-TV channel TF1, figures boosted by the out-of-home audience measurement that was taken into account for the first time during a World Cup by Médiamétrie). In the UK, audience figures for England's matches are up compared to 2018 (+14%). However, a decline was observed in Italy (-11.7%), whose national team failed to qualify for the competition for the second edition in a row.

In addition, several audience records for football World Cup matches were set in the United States. These figures come after sharp increases, over…