It seemed four years ago when ESPN began its commitment to soccer with EURO 2008 that getting ratings anything near to what the network saw for the EURO 2012 tournament would be a pipe dream. However, not only have the ratings for EURO 2012 skyrocketed as compared to EURO 2008, but the numbers have been quite consistent. Even with matches playing mid-afternoon on the East Coast, the viewership on average for the 28 group stage and quarterfinal matches has been 1.144 million people and that’s way up about 63% from four years ago.
And for the Italy-England match on Sunday that went to penalty kicks, ESPN saw an average viewership that almost reached 3 million. That’s the second most watched European Championship game on the networks of ESPN with only the 2008 Final between Spain and Germany on ABC being higher.
Quite impressive going into today’s All-Iberian Peninsula semifinal game between Portugal and defending champion Spain. By the way, the great Ian Darke and Steve McManaman will call the match. For tomorrow’s Germany vs. Italy semi, it’ll be Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe in the commentary box.
Here’s ESPN’s press release.
ESPN Audience for UEFA EURO 2012 Quarterfinals Up 31 Percent vs. 2008
England vs. Italy Sets UEFA European Football Championship Record for ESPN Deportes; Audience on ESPN Digital Platforms Surges
Last Sunday’s UEFA EURO 2012 quarterfinal match between Italy and England, a 0-0 tie won by Italy 4-2 in a penalty-kick shootout, on ESPN was seen by an average of 2.968 million viewers, bigger than any UEFA European Football Championship match in 2012 or 2008, except the 2008 final on ABC (3.760 million for Germany vs. Spain).
The four UEFA EURO 2012 quarterfinal matches (June 21–24) delivered an average of 1.463 million television households and 1.918 million viewers – up 31 percent in both households (1.116 million) and viewers (1.459 million) compared to the quarterfinal round in 2008.
Audiences for UEFA EURO 2012 and 2008 quarterfinals matches:
Date Network Match Households/Viewers (P2+) Sun, June 24, 2012 ESPN England vs. Italy 2,117,000/2,968,000 Sun, June 22, 2008 ESPN Spain vs. Italy 1,387,000/1,911,000 Sat, June 21, 2008 ABC Netherlands vs. Russia 1,384,000/1,838,000 Sat, June 23, 2012 ESPN2 Spain vs. France 1,301,000/1,758,000 Fri, June 22, 2012 ESPN Germany vs. Greece 1,203,000/1,446,000 Thu, June 21,2012 ESPN Czech Republic vs. Portugal 1,068,000/1,238,000 Thu, June 19, 2008 ESPN Germany vs. Portugal 881,000/1,106,000 Fri, June 20, 2008 ESPN Turkey vs. Croatia 798,000/962,000 Through 28 matches (group stage and quarterfinals) of the UEFA European Football Championship 2012, ESPN’s live English-language presentation is averaging 889,000 households and 1,144,000 viewers — up 61 percent and 63 percent, respectively, versus the same 28 matches in 2008 (552,000 households and 703,000 viewers).
The top 10 metered markets through the group stage include: New York (1.9), Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (1.8), Providence (1.5), Los Angeles (1.3), Washington, DC (1.3), San Francisco (1.2), Richmond, Va. (1.2), Atlanta (1.2), Austin, Texas (1.2), and San Diego (1.1).
ESPN Deportes:
Last Sunday’s England vs. Italy on ESPN Deportes was viewed by an average of 424,000 Hispanic household, based on an 8.1 Hispanic household coverage rating, making it the most-watched UEFA European Football Championship match on the 24-hour Spanish-language sports network. The telecast beat the network’s previous high – UEFA EURO 2008 final between Germany and Spain with 357,000 Hispanic household impressions.On ESPN Deportes, the quarterfinals averaged a 5.5 Hispanic household coverage rating with 287,000 Hispanic household impressions – up 57 percent and 133 percent from 2008 respectively. (In 2008, ESPN Deportes televised one of the four quarterfinal matches on delay.)
Through the 24 live matches in 2012, ESPN Deportes has delivered an average 3.5 Hispanic household coverage rating with 184,000 Hispanic HH impressions – up 46 percent and 117 percent respectively. UEFA EURO 2012 news and information programming has also delivered strong ratings: Fuera de Juego Euro Edition has aired 42 live telecasts, averaging a 1.3 Hispanic household coverage rating with 68,000 Hispanic household impressions.
ESPN Digital Platforms:
From June 21-24, through four days of EURO 2012 quarterfinals play, ESPNFC.com and ESPNsoccernet.com globally averaged 878,000 daily visitors, 3.1 million page views per day and 10.2 million minutes per day (source: Adobe/Omniture). Compared to ESPNsoccernet.com during the same time period for EURO 2008, the site is up 24 percent, 13 percent and 132 percent, respectively. In total, ESPNFC.com, ESPNsoccernet.com and ESPNdeportes.com generated 13.3 million total page views during the quarterfinals, up 14.6 percent compared to EURO 2008.Mobile coverage of the EURO 2012 quarterfinals across ESPNFC, ESPNsoccernet and ESPNdeportes mobile Web sites as well as the ESPNsoccernet app for iPhone and Android logged an average of 1.4 million page views per day, up 238 percent compared to EURO 2008.
Through the quarterfinals (June 8-24) across computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox, ESPN3 and WatchESPN has logged an average minute audience of 83,607 per match and a total of 344.7 million live minutes to both English and Spanish language feeds. On computers alone, there were a total of 2.1 million unique viewers. Additionally, fans consumed 300.2 million live minutes on computers, up 688 percent compared to EURO 2008.
The England vs. Italy quarterfinal took the top spot as the new most watched match of the tournament thus far on ESPN3 and WatchESPN, logging 422,000 unique viewers, 27.8 million live minutes and an average minute audience of 147,745.
UEFA EURO 2012 Semifinals and Final on ESPN Networks
ESPN’s comprehensive presentation of UEFA European Football Championship 2012 in English and Spanish will continue Wednesday, June 27, and Thursday, June 28, with the semifinals, and conclude Sunday, July 1, with the title match live from Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine. Schedule (Subject to change):
Date Time (ET) Match Networks Wed, June 27 2 p.m. UEFA EURO Report ESPN Fuera de Juego: EURO Previa ESPN Deportes 2:30 p.m. Semifinal I – Portugal vs. Spain Ian Darke and Steve McManamanJorge Ramos and Hernan PereyraESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes 5-6 p.m. Fuera de Juego: EURO 2012 ESPN Deportes 5-5:30 p.m. EURO 2012 Tonight ESPN2 Thu, June 28 2 p.m. UEFA EURO Report ESPN Fuera de Juego: EURO Previa ESPN Deportes 2:30 p.m. Semifinal II – Germany vs. Italy
Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe
Fernando Palomo and Rafa PuenteESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes 5-6 p.m. Fuera de Juego: EURO 2012 ESPN Deportes 5-5:30 p.m. EURO 2012 Tonight ESPN2 Sun, July 1 2 p.m. UEFA EURO Report ESPN Fuera de Juego: EURO Previa ESPN Deportes 2:30 p.m. EURO 2012 Final
Darke and McManaman
Ramos, Pereyra and PuenteESPN/ESPN3/ESPN Deportes 5-6 p.m. Fuera de Juego: EURO 2012 ESPN Deportes EURO 2012 Tonight ESPN2
We have one more ESPN EURO 2012 press release and we’ll need a jump break. On Sunday, ESPN Radio will air the EURO 2012 Final. The mistreated JP Dellacamera returns to the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s headquarters to call the game off a monitor for the radio audience. He’ll be joined by Tommy Smyth. The two called the World Cup for ESPN Radio in 2010. Since 2010, JP has left ESPN and called Philadelphia Union games for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia plus one MLS game for NBC Sports Network.
We haven’t seen much of Tommy Smyth asides from occasional appearances on ESPNews, but he’s been mostly on the .com side appearing on the old ESPNSoccernet, now ESPN FC.
Also, ESPN Radio World Cup host Kevin Winter will also be on hand for EURO 2012 with pregame, halftime and postgame coverage.
Here’s the ESPN announcement on the radio call of EURO 2012.
ESPN Radio to Present the UEFA EURO 2012 Final on Sunday, July 1
ESPN Radio will present exclusive, live national coverage of the UEFA EURO 2012 Final on Sunday, July 1, at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s final will match the winners of this week’s semifinals: Portugal-Spain on Wednesday and Italy-Germany on Thursday.
Veteran FIFA World Cup soccer commentators JP Dellacamera (play-by-play) and analyst Tommy Smyth will describe the action. Dellacamera and Smyth worked together as the lead team for ESPN Radio’s critically acclaimed broadcast of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Dellacamera was ESPN’s lead radio play-by-play commentator for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he called the quarterfinals, semifinals and final live from South Africa for ESPN Radio. A veteran soccer commentator, Dellacamera has called the last seven FIFA World Cups for a variety of networks (five on television and two on radio), and before 2011, he called four straight FIFA Women’s World Cups including the most-watched soccer broadcast on U.S. television – the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup final on ABC. He is currently the voice of the MLS Philadelphia Union.
Smyth, who has called thousands of international matches from leagues all over the world including the UEFA Champions League for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN International, served as a game and studio analyst during ESPN’s UEFA European Football Championship 2008 (Euro 08) coverage. He has worked four FIFA World Cups (1998, 2002, ’06 and ’10). Smyth has earned international acclaim in his role as a pundit on the popular ESPN Press Pass – the hard-hitting soccer discussion and analysis program televised in more than 100 countries around the world including the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Africa, Israel and the Middle East. He also served as a studio analyst for ESPN’s presentation of the UEFA EURO 2012, appearing primarily on studio programming around matches involving the Republic of Ireland.
Kevin Winter will anchor pre-game, halftime and post-game shows.
Previously, ESPN Radio broadcast all 64 games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, marking its first soccer play-by-play programming. Last July’s USA-Japan final was the network’s first FIFA Women’s World Cup Final broadcast.
That’s all.
