With two of the world’s biggest clubs, Barcelona and Manchester United, in this year’s UEFA Champions League final, there was no doubt that there would be greater interest in the match than the previous year’s final. Just how much more interest there was in the United States might have been a surprise though as the match became the highest rated and most-watched Champions League broadcast in U.S. history. FOX and FOX Deportes telecasts of the match in the U.S. drew 4.2 million viewers, almost double the viewership of last year’s final between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.
U.S. TV Ratings For Champions League Final Skyrocket
In English-language broadcast, the Champions League final has seen its audience increase by almost 1,000% in the past decade. The 2002 final was watched by only 264,000 Americans, while 2.6 million watched Saturday’s English broadcast. That has undoubtedly been helped by the final being shown on network television and on a Saturday, as opposed to a Wednesday, but the growth is impressive nonetheless.
One area that is also impressive is the viewership among young males, an attractive demographic for advertisers. Most sporting events don’t rate as well with younger people, but the final earned a 1.8 rating among males ages 18-34, 29% higher than the HH rating.
While the jump in ratings shows phenomenal growth and is very encouraging, a 2.1 rating and six share is not a mind-blowing number when compared to other major sporting events. Soccer is still playing catch-up in the United States and when it comes to the Champions League, FOX will be at the heart of that attempt to make up ground because they have the U.S. television rights to the tournament through 2015.
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