As you read the continued reports of boffo TV ratings for the ongoing European Championship, please keep this in mind:
Americans do not like soccer.
Or so we’re told. Again and again. Perhaps less so than five or certainly less than 10 years ago. But lots of old white guys in media – mostly the set still anchored to “good, old-days syndrome,” the moldy element still dying to know “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” – strain to remind us that, dagnabit, Americans don’t like soccer!
And old white guys in media can’t be wrong. So as you study and consider the following numbers, please keep that in mind:
- The 24 games in Euro 2012 group stage have averaged a little more than one million viewers. That’s almost double the 552,000 average for Euro 2008.
- The highest rated game of this tournament so far: The 1-1 draw between Italy and Spain on June 10 (a Sunday). The Group C opener was seen by an average of 2.113 million viewers, bigger than any Euro 2008 game except the ABC-televised final (Germany-Spain) that was seen by an average of 3.760 million viewers.
- Remember, those figures do not include viewership along ESPN’s digital platforms or Spanish-language networks.
ProSoccerTalk is doing its best to keep you up to date on what’s going on in Poland and Ukraine. Check out the site’s Euro 2012 page and look at the site’s previews, predictions, and coverage of all the events defining UEFA’s championship.
