ESPN’s Euro 2012 coverage continues to hit record-breaking numbers in the United States.

Through the 24 matches in the group stage of Euro 2012, ESPN’s live English-language presentation is averaging 784,000 households and 1,002,000 viewers — up 79 percent and 82 percent, respectively, versus the group stage matches in 2008 (439,000 households and 552,000 viewers).

The most-watched match in the group stage was a 1-1 tie in Group C between Spain and Italy on Sunday, June 10 – seen by an average audience of 2.113 million viewers. This audience was larger than any of the 31 telecasts in 2008, except the final on ABC. That game, Germany vs. Spain, was watched by an average of 3.760 million viewers.

The top 10 metered markets through the group stage include: New York (1.6), Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (1.6), Providence (1.3), Los Angeles (1.2), Washington, DC (1.2), Richmond, Va. (1.1), Atlanta (1.1), San Francisco (1.0), Jacksonville (1.0), and Austin, Texas (1.0).

Here are the number of households and viewers for the top matches thus far:

Sun, June 10, 2012 ESPN Spain vs. Italy 1,570,000 / 2,113,000
Sat, June 9, 2012 ESPN Germany vs. Portugal 1,244,000 / 1,798,000
Sat, June 9, 2012 ESPN Netherlands vs. Denmark 1,077,000 / 1,367,000
Wed, June 13, 2012 ESPN Netherlands vs. Germany 1,066,000 / 1,383,000
Sun, June 10, 2012 ESPN Republic of Ireland vs. Croatia 1,018,000 / 1,387,000
Mon, June 11, 2012 ESPN France vs. England 968,000 / 1,151,000
Sun, June 17, 2012 ESPN Portugal vs. Netherlands 923,000 / 1,323,000
Wed, June 13, 2012 ESPN Denmark vs. Portugal 859,000 / 1,084,000

ESPN’s 24-hour Spanish-language sports network has also delivered strong audience for UEFA EURO 2012 group stage matches, averaging 161,000 Hispanic households and 228,000 Hispanic viewers (P2+) – up 123 percent and 138 percent, respectively, compared to the group stage matches in 2008 (73,000 Hispanic households and 96,000 Hispanic viewers).

Through the end of group play across computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox, ESPN3 and WatchESPN logged an average minute audience of 76,300 per game and a total of 262.5 million minutes across all twelve days to both English and Spanish language feeds. On computers alone, there were a total of 1.7 million unique viewers. Additionally, fans consumed 230 million minutes on computers, up 645 percent compared to EURO 2008.

Netherlands vs. Germany was the highest performing match during the group stage on ESPN3 and WatchESPN, logging 395,000 unique viewers, 17.3 million minutes and an average minute audience of 115,283.