2014 TV audiences in the Euro Top 5 countries: matches from the World Cup in Brazil lead the way

2014 was marked by very strong audiences for football programmes on television, especially in the Top 5 countries of European football: Germany, Spain, Italy, France and England (TV measurements for the UK). Notably, in Spain, the 20 best TV audiences in 2014 were for football matches.

If sport in general, and football in particular, guarantee big audiences for national free-TV channels, the strong 2014 figures have been significantly enhanced by the World Cup in Brazil (12/06 to 13/07/2014). "The matches of the group stage set new record audiences in many markets, from Belgium to the United States. Sales of television advertising and subscriptions have also benefited," stated a study by seven associations of European TV and radio broadcasters on 27/06/2014.

The World Cup final, Germany - Argentina (1-0 a.e.t. on 13/07/2014), allowed the German public broadcaster ARD (Das Erste) to establish not only its best audience of 2014, but also the highest rating ever recorded in Germany with 34.65 million viewers on average during the match and an audience share of 86.3%.

In the countries of…