The continuing power of soccer to attract major global audiences was proven in the opening stages of the Euro 2012 Finals at the weekend as viewing numbers soared.
The Republic of Ireland’s opening match against Croatia attracted a massive 2.03 million viewers on RTE, making it by far the largest TV event of the year to date and the most watched sports event in Ireland since 1994.
The game was televised live by ITV across Britain where it drew and audience of 8.4 million or 33% of the total viewing audience.
An average of 1.23 million people watched RTÉ Two for the entire 2½ hours of coverage of the game including pre and post match analysis and Après Match. This represents over two-thirds of people watching television in Ireland at the time.
The tournament has also proven to be a big draw with fans online with RTÉ’s Euro 2012 coverage on RTE.ie generating over 180,000 streams to date within the Republic of Ireland.
Each match shown so far has drawn an average international TV audience of 150 million, rivalling coverage from the last Fifa World Cup and generating a live sports audience every day that is equivalent to the NFL Superbowl.
UEFA is set to generate profits of in excess of €1.2 billion and also pays a greater dividend to the copeting member nations than is the case with the FIFA World Cup.
Ireland may yet be part of a Celtic consortium including Scotland and Wales that bids to host the tournament in 2020.
Find out more about how Sport for Business can be of benefit to you
Subscibe today for the free Sport for Business daily news digest