UEFA EURO 2012 Off to a Great Start on ESPN
Triple-Digit Viewership Increases vs. 2008 on Television; Surge on ESPN Digital Platforms
Last Sunday’s UEFA EURO 2012 match between Italy and Spain at on ESPN, a 1-1 tie and tournament opening match for both Group C teams, was seen by an average of 2.113 million viewers, bigger than any UEFA European Football Championship 2008 match except the final on ABC. That game, Germany vs. Spain, was watched by an average of 3.760 million viewers.Through six matches, ESPN’s English-language presentation of the event is averaging 1,007,000 households and 1.328,000 viewers — up 198 percent and 214 percent, respectively, versus the first six games of the UEFA EURO 2008 (338,000 households and 423,000 viewers in ’08). The second most-watched game to-date in 2012 is Saturday’s Portugal-Germany matchup – a 1.1 household coverage rating, 1,244,000 households, and 1,798,000 viewers, second to only one ESPN game in all of 2008.ESPN Deportes:ESPN Deportes delivered strong ratings for the kickoff of UEFA EURO 2012. Through the first three days (six matches), the matches averaged a 3.2 Hispanic household coverage rating (+66 percent from 2008) with 166,000 Hispanic households (+147 percent from 2008). The Spain vs. Italy match on Sunday, June 10, was the highest-rated and most-watched match so far, delivering a 6.0 Hispanic household coverage rating with 313,600 household impressions.ESPN Digital Platforms:Since the start of EURO 2012 on June 8, ESPNFC.com globally logged 876,000 daily visitors, 8.5 million page views and 33 million minutes (source: Adobe/Omniture). Compared to the first three days of EURO 2008, the site is up 45 percent, 11 percent and 191 percent, respectively.Additionally, through the first three days of EURO 2012, ESPN3 and WatchESPNgenerated 65.8 million minutes to both the English and Spanish language feeds across computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox. On computers alone, it generated an average minute audience of 80,000 and an average of nearly 231,852 daily unique viewers that logged a total of 57.5 million minutes to all six EURO 2012 matches.