ESPN Sees Success with Euro 2012

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ The final ratings numbers are in and ESPN saw a significant increase in audience for its coverage of Euro 2012. Through the three week tournament Euro 2012 on ESPN delivered an average of 993,000 households and 1,300,000 viewers – up 51 percent in households and viewers, respectively, versus 31 matches in 2008 (657,000 households and 859,000 viewers). Sunday’s finale between Spain and Italy was seen by an average audience of 4.068 million viewers in 2.699 million average television households, based on a 2.4 U.S. household rating – up eight percent in viewers (3.761 million), six percent in households (2.552 million) and four percent in ratings (2.3) vs. the previous high, Spain vs. Germany in EURO 2008 final on ABC. The audience on ESPN Deportes was also impressive. The Spain-Italy final delivered the network’s highest-rated and most-watched telecast ever with a 12.9 Hispanic household coverage rating, 700,000 Hispanic household impressions and 1,125,000 Hispanic viewers – up 28 percent compared to ESPN Deportes coverage of the UEFA EURO 2008 final (10.1). The final is also the second highest-rated European soccer match ever on a Spanish-language sports cable network. Through the tournament, 5.25 million people (P2+) tuned into live coverage of EURO 2012 on ESPN Deportes, a 24 percent increase from the 4.24 million people in 2008. ESPN also saw significant increases in viewership of the tournament online.