For viewers in the United States, England was always going to dominate viewership on FOX for Euro 2024. The close connection to the Premier League props up fans’ knowledge of who is playing. Only two players for the Three Lions come from clubs outside of the most-watched soccer league in the United States. Therefore, FOX has made England a driving force for its coverage of the tournament.
That said, the broadcaster recently showed statistics demonstrating the success of other nations for American viewership. Specifically, this relates to France, the 2018 World Cup winner and 2022 World Cup runner-up. Les Bleus pulled a massive viewership audience when they played against Austria on Monday. The game had an average viewership of 1.177 million viewers on FOX, which demonstrates a massive uptick in viewership compared to previous years.
Moreover, the game showed improvements for an otherwise unwanted timeslot. France’s game against Austria kicked off at 3 p.m. ET. While that is not as bad as the 9 a.m. ET slot, for example, it is lunchtime for much of the United States. Still, the 1.177 million viewers on average were a 24% increase on Monday viewership during the group stage at Euro 2020. Overall, the viewership of the France game on FOX for Euro 2024 represented a 35% increase compared to weekday audiences from Euro 2020.
France-Austria peaked at over 1.5 million viewers. That makes it one of the most-watched games of Euro 2024 alongside games like England-Serbia, which drew as many as 2.2 million concurrent viewers this past weekend. Granted, England and the United States have a noted connection when it comes to viewership. Perhaps France’s viewership success embodies the star power of the squad.
France is latest part of Euro 2024 success on FOX
Even outside of France’s game against Austria from earlier in the week, FOX has had great early success with Euro 2024. As previously reported, the first weekend of the tournament averaged 1.2 million viewers per game. That is a massive 33% increase compared to the first weekend of Euro 2020, which was available on ESPN’s channels. Some of that may come from the fact that FOX has put several games on its broadcast channel, while the likes of ESPN or Fox Sports 1 require some other form of TV subscription. Regardless, these are welcome figures for FOX in its first time broadcasting the European Championship.
FOX also mentioned what its three most popular locations were for France’s game against Austria. Traditionally, the American markets for soccer are the Atlantic coast, with areas like Kansas City also popping up regularly. On Monday, New Orleans led the way with the best ratings among American markets. Then, San Diego and Miami rounded out the top three markets with the best ratings.
As this is the early portion of the group stage, viewership should grow as the tournament goes on. The last matchday may cannibalize viewership with simultaneous kickoffs. However, the much-anticipated knockout stages should feature the best teams like England and France. Those fixtures could pull major numbers for FOX in its maiden European Championship.
PHOTO: IMAGO
