Football has been the name of the game this weekend in Europe and the UK as Euro 2020 continues to crank out impressive viewing figures across the continent and in Britain. Beginning with England Vs Scotland’s goalless draw on Friday night, ITV drew an average 18.4M UK viewers for a 74 share. Gareth Southgate and Steve Clarke’s sides also hit a peak of 20M viewers (79 share) during the derby which became, unsurprisingly, the most-watched match of Euro 2020 so far in the market. This was also the top football ratings reaper since England’s World Cup semi-final against Croatia in 2018, and set a new broadcaster streaming record with 4.8M streams across ITV Hub and STV Player.
On Saturday, France played to a 1-1 draw with Hungary under punishing heat and facing a formidable Magyarok defensive wall at Budapest’s Puskas Arena which was bursting with local fans (this is the only stadium of the tournament with no restrictions).
On TF1 in France, 12.3M watched the action from 3PM local with a peak of 14.6M shortly before the final whistle. In total, this was good for a 70 share. There was severe weather in parts of the country, though a beautiful day in the southeast of France where bars and terraces were packed with fans (those viewing figures are not included in the above). This is after over 15M watched France edge out Germany on M6 Tuesday night, scoring the highest ratings in France since 2018.
Later in the day on Saturday, 20.1M viewers tuned into Germany’s ARD to watch the Mannschaft beat Euro Cup defending champs Portugal. That was good for a 75.7 share in Germany from 6PM local. TVI in Portugal scored a 64.2 share of the market with a peak of 71.3 making this the most-watched show of 2021 there.
And, from 9PM local, Spain Vs Poland’s 1-1 draw at Seville’s La Cartuja stadium was watched at home by an average 7.24M on Telecinco for a 51.6 share. In total, local media reports there were 12.1M viewers who tuned in to the match at some point.
All in all, the tournament is likely to have had an impact on box office figures in the relevant markets.
In major duels to come, Group A’s Italy plays Wales in Rome tonight (although the Azzurri is already through to the next round, whatever the outcome), while Denmark, whose star Christian Eriksen was discharged from hospital Friday, six days after suffering cardiac arrest on the field during his team’s Euro 2020 opener, faces off against Russia on Monday night in Copenhagen. Group D’s England plays Czech Republic at Wembley on Tuesday and Group F has a big night on Wednesday with Germany Vs Hungary in Munich and France Vs Portugal in Budapest. France’s nationwide curfew, which had originally been planned to lift on June 30, will now expire from tonight meaning folks watching the matches at bars, restaurants and fan zones will be free to stick around after the game.