European soccer’s dominance among English-language audiences on US television continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
Through eight matches, ESPN’s English-language presentation of Euro 2012 is averaging 978,000 households and 1.260,000 viewers — up 172 percent and 183 percent, respectively, versus the first eight games of the UEFA EURO 2008 (360,000 households and 446,000 viewers in ’08). Wednesday’s Group B games also produced strong overnight ratings, according to Nielsen. The Netherlands-Germany afternoon matchup posted a 1.2 overnight rating, while the earlier Denmark-Portugal game posted a 0.9 overnight.
The top 10 metered markets through the first 10 matches include: New York (1.9), Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (1.8), Los Angeles (1.3), Providence (1.3), Jacksonville (1.3), Washington, DC (1.2), Richmond, VA (1.2), Atlanta (1.2), Greensboro-High Point, NC (1.2) and Austin, TX (1.1).
ESPN Deportes has also delivered strong ratings for UEFA EURO 2012, averaging a 3.0 Hispanic household coverage rating (+58 percent from 2008) with 157,000 Hispanic households (+131 percent from 2008) through the first eight matches.
ESPN has also seen significant numbers based on the number of people watching Euro 2012 online. Wednesday’s Netherlands vs. Germany match on ESPN3 and WatchESPN across computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox was the highest performing match so far in the tournament, logging 395,000 unique viewers, 17.3 million minutes and an average minute audience of 115,283 to both English and Spanish language feeds. Additionally, Denmark vs. Portugal pulled in a strong audience with 318,000 unique viewers, 13.8 million minutes and an average minute audience of 101,654. Through twelve matches in the tournament, EURO 2012 on ESPN3 and WatchESPN on computers alone have logged 1 million unique viewers that generated 116.4 million minutes.
