Women’s Soccer Championship Euro 2022 scored with viewers, delivering record ratings as the tournament went into the final match between England and Germany on Sunday.
As The Hollywood Reporter write, Wednesday’s semi-final game between Germany and France attracted 12.19 million viewers in Germany alone, on public broadcaster ZDF, with 47.2% of viewers nationwide tuning in to watch Germany’s nail-biting 2-1 victory over France. Younger audiences are a big hit: About 3.3 million fans aged 14-49 caught the match, with a 50.7% share.
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Hosts England’s European Cup 2022 semi-final victory over Sweden on Tuesday was watched by a record television audience of 9.3 million on the BBC, the high water mark for the tournament so far. The BBC also reported 2 million streams from the 4-0 win for the Lionesses.
These figures are far from those for the World Cup of women’s football and are another proof that women’s football continues to grow in popularity. Fans have also turned out for Euro 2022 matches. The tournament broke the record for the most fans at the Women’s Euro by surpassing the previous mark of 240,055 during the group stage, and a sell-out crowd of 85,000 will watch Sunday’s England-Germany final at Wembley Stadium in London.
The success of the Euros should also attract interest in next year’s Women’s World Cup – the coronavirus postponement means the two tournaments will be played back-to-back instead of every two years – and in the bid to host the 2027 tournament. FIFA is set to start the bidding process for the 2027 World Cup this month, and looks at the numbers for Euro 2022 making the championship more attractive and valuable for potential hosts and sponsors alike. So far, only one bid has been confirmed for 2027, with Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands submitting three country proposals to host. But reigning world champions the United States are considering a bid, and football-mad nations Chile, Mexico, Italy and South Africa have also shown interest.
The 2019 Women’s World Cup attracted 1.12 billion viewers across all platforms, according to FIFA, a record audience for the competition. The final between the USA and the Netherlands was the most-watched FIFA Women’s World Cup match, with an average live audience of 82.18 million and a total of 263.62 million unique viewers. The women’s final scored a 10.0/27 rating on Fox Sports, making it the second best soccer telecast in the US since the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, which was also won by the US team and brought in a total of 25.4 million viewers.
The 2023 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, could struggle to reach that peak, however, with time zone issues in the US and Europe reducing viewing figures, and the tournament’s schedule being rescheduled. from July 20 to August 20-clashing with the start of the main football league in Europe.
