The German footballers are again the favorites of the television nation. After a two-year break, the national team has regained the public’s favor and is at the top of the ratings balance – with five games.
The most-watched television broadcast of the year was the semi-final exit at the European Championships against Spain. An average of 27.154 million people watched the live broadcast on ARD on July 5th. The market share was a whopping 80.9 percent. Previously, in 2022 and 2023, the German footballers were the TV queens with the top ratings of the year – this year they didn’t even make it into the top 50.
“Home European Championship was very dominant”
“The home European Championship was very dominant, the tournament was a lot of fun for people,” commented ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky on the TV ranking of the year. And that obviously didn’t just apply to the German team’s games, whose five live broadcasts all attracted more than 24 million people to their television screens.
More than 20 EM broadcasts without German participation exceeded the ten million mark. The final between Spain and England was even watched by 22.498 million in the first. “That was impressive proof of the great power that football has at tournaments,” said Balkausky.
The Champions League final couldn’t keep up, finishing in 13th place. 12.699 million people saw Borussia Dortmund’s final defeat against Real Madrid.
After football comes handball
As in the previous year, the most successful sport after football was handball. Five European Championship games for the German team are among the 50 most successful sports broadcasts of the year, including the game against Denmark with 9.886 million and 29th place.
The Olympic Games were also a big source of ratings. The top value of the broadcasts from Paris was the opening ceremony on ZDF. 10.441 million saw the four-hour ceremony, which ended up in 26th place in the ratings.
The idea of the Olympics also lives on TV
“The second major sporting event in this intensive sporting year also fascinated people of all ages and proved to be a success with the public,” said ZDF sports director Yorck Polus. “The games in Paris made it clear that the idea of the Olympics is alive and that the diversity of sports is attractive.”
The most successful Olympic sport was athletics. 8.116 million TV viewers provided the peak value. What was particularly pleasing for the two public TV stations was that the hour-long broadcasts consistently achieved millions.
ARD and ZDF show 243 hours of the Olympics
The first and second showed 243 hours live from Paris on classic television alone. According to their own information, they had an average reach of 3.62 million viewers over the entire broadcast time. The market share was 30.9 percent.
“The Olympics were also outstanding thanks to the same time zone,” enthused ARD sports director Balkausky. “Sport still has a great unifying power. Young people are also watching. The interest in major events spans generations.”
Michael Rossmann
Source: www.digitalfernsehen.de
