The UEFA European Championships, commonly known as Euro 2024, has been attracting significant audiences in the UK and Italy. The tournament's thrilling matches have captivated millions of viewers across both countries, with public-service broadcasters recording impressive viewing figures.
England's recent 1-1 draw against Denmark was watched by a peak audience of 13.1 million on the BBC. This match took place in Frankfurt, Germany on June 20th and was also streamed an impressive 5.6 million times across various platforms including BBC’s iPlayer service, the BBC Sport website, and its mobile app.
The average match audience for this game was recorded at around 11.2 million which equates to a substantial audience share of approximately 63.9%. Comparatively speaking, England’s opening group stage game against Serbia had an average audience of about 10.5 million but peaked at over a whopping figure of more than 15 million viewers.
ITV & BBC share broadcasting rights
England’s final group-stage game against Slovenia is scheduled for June 25th where even a draw will ensure their qualification for the knockout stages; this match will be aired by commercial free-to-air network ITV.
ITV along with the BBC are sharing broadcasting rights for Euro 2024 coverage – including all England fixtures – through a deal unveiled back in November of 2022 which also covers future tournaments such as the men’s quadrennial tournament set to take place in UK and Ireland come year-end.
Earlier this week, Scotland faced off against Switzerland resulting in another draw (1-1). This match attracted an average audience of about 8.6 million while there were also approximately 3.6 million streams through online platforms and mobile apps.
Italy making noise
Meanwhile, in Italy, the Euro 2024 clash between Spain and Italy (where Spain emerged victorious with a 1-0 win) was watched by almost 13.4 million viewers across both public-service broadcaster Rai and pay-TV’s Sky Italia.
Rai accounted for a staggering 12.3 million of that figure, while Sky Italia brought in around1.05 million viewers. The total viewing numbers equated to an impressive viewing share of about 62.9%. For Italy’s opening Euro 2024 fixture against Albania which resulted in a victory for them (2-1), the total audience across both broadcasters was approximately 11.2 million, translating into a viewing share of about 60.5%.
Sky Italia is exclusively broadcasting 20 out of the total 51 Euro games this year. Italy – who were crowned champions at the last Euros held in 2021 – are set to play Croatia in their final group game on June 24th.
It's clear that Euro 2024 has captured the attention and hearts of millions of sports fans across Europe - particularly those residing within UK and Italy - as they cheer on their national teams towards potential glory.
