The Euro 2024 final, which saw Spain triumph over England in Berlin, attracted a massive audience in both countries. The match was the most-watched combined broadcast of the year in the UK, with a peak audience of around 24 million tuning into BBC and ITV.
Despite the Euro 2024 final's viewership being significantly lower than the Euro 2020 final, it still managed to attract an average of 22.3 million viewers across both BBC and ITV. This figure is impressive considering that over 30 million people watched England lose to Italy at Wembley during the Euro 2020 final, which was played in 2021 due to Covid-19 disruptions.
In terms of individual broadcasters, BBC once again outperformed ITV by attracting a larger audience with its peak reaching approximately 19.3 million compared to ITV's peak of around 6.4 million viewers. On average, BBC attracted about 11.37 million viewers while ITV drew in an average of approximately 3.9 million spectators for the match coverage. Despite trailing behind in overall numbers, ITV posted an audience share of about 26%, which it claims is its highest viewing share for a major men's soccer tournament final since records began.
A record-breaking event for RTVE
Spain secured its record fourth UEFA European Championship with this victory while England became the first nation to lose back-to-back finals.
In Spain, public-service broadcaster RTVE reported that their country's success was watched by 13.6 million viewers (78.7% share). The audience peaked at 14 million for the trophy presentation (79.1% share), making it the most-watched match in 12 years on RTVE.
This was RTVE's biggest soccer audience since the Euro 2012 final when Spain beat Italy.
Wimbledon finals also produced goods
In addition to its successful coverage of Euro 2024, BBC also drew a peak of 7.5 million viewers for the Wimbledon men's singles final between Spain's Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic of Serbia on BBC One. The climax of this year’s iconic grass court tennis tournament, won by Alcaraz, was streamed live 3.3 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport.
Saturday's women's final saw Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova beat Italy’s Jasmine Paolini with a TV peak of 4.1 million, and it was streamed 1.9 million times, marking an increase from last year’s women’s final.
Following these record-breaking events, the focus now shifts to another major sporting event - The Paris 2024 Olympics that start on July 26, followed by Paralympics from August 28. With such impressive figures from recent broadcasts, sports fans can look forward to more comprehensive coverage as broadcasters continue their efforts to bring top-tier sports action into homes across UK and Spain.
