Man City victory against Inter watched by 2.1 million on CBS

CBS Sports released its viewership statistics from the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday between Manchester City and Inter Milan. This was one of the biggest mismatches of the last decade at this stage in the competition. Still, Americans flocked to the game.

According to the broadcasting company, CBS averaged about 2.1 million viewers throughout the massive match. Television audience for the game on the network peaked at around 2.6 million. Along with being available on network TV, sports fans could have also streamed the game on Paramount+. The streaming service claims that the City-Inter match was their most-streamed soccer game of all time.

City vs Inter down compared to CBS numbers in 2022

Although still impressive numbers, viewership was down a tad compared to the season before. The 2022 Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Liverpool averaged over 2.7 million viewers on CBS. This, however, essentially came down to the teams involved. Real and Liverpool are two of the most popular soccer clubs in the world. The matchup was mostly seen as a close affair and was the most-watched Champions League Final in U.S. television history.

Along with releasing their 2023 Champions League Final audience, CBS Sports also revealed their complete tournament coverage for the entire season. The network claims that the 2022/23 campaign was the most-watched Champions League season ever on U.S. TV. In fact, the tournament averaged 967,000 viewers throughout the duration of the season.

Streaming service’s UCL coverage continues to grow

Paramount+ also increased its audience totals for the competition. The streaming service recorded double-digit year-over-year growth in viewership. This includes households, total minutes, and average minute audiences.

Overall, the Champions League Final was expected to eclipse 450 million total viewers worldwide. Despite City’s status as a heavy favorite, the match itself was extremely compelling. The Premier League champions narrowly defeated Inter 1-0 thanks to a lone goal from Rodri. Nevertheless, Inter had multiple late chances to score a dramatic equalizer.

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