European audiences flock to live Championships broadcast coverage
Broadcasters across Europe are reporting impressive television viewing figures for the European Championships Munich 2022.
Viewers watched close to 170 million hours of live coverage in the first six days of the event in eight key markets. This represents a significant increase on the first edition of the European Championships in Glasgow and Berlin in 2018.
In a boost for the multi-sport approach of the event, many broadcasters are reporting strong figures for all of the sports included in the programme, including athletics, triathlon, beach volleyball and gymnastics.
The eight key markets to have reported viewing figures so far are: Germany (ARD & ZDF), Italy (RAI), Netherlands (NOS), Norway (NRK), Poland (TVP); Sweden (SVT), Switzerland (SRG-SSR), and the UK (BBC).
A total of 40 European Broadcasting Union (EBU) members are providing in-depth television, radio and digital coverage of the second edition of the Championships.
More than 3,500 hours of live, delayed, and digital programming has been scheduled across more than 50 channels. This compares with just over 3,000 hours of intentions for the inaugural 2018 edition in Glasgow and Berlin.
“Sport has the power to unite like nothing else.”
Responding to the figures, European Championships Management (ECM) co-founder and managing director Marc Joerg said: “We are very pleased with the way in which Europe’s free-to-air broadcasters have once again embraced the multi-sport European Championships concept.
“We still have many more medal events to come over the final few days in Munich, packed into a compelling sports programme, so we hope to continue to see great audiences across the continent enjoying the best of European sport.”
The executive director of Eurovision Sport, Glen Killane, added: “Sport has the power to unite like nothing else. That unity is more important now than at any time in recent memory.
“These initial viewing figures show how important the commitment of our members is to the success of this innovative multi-sport event, ensuring that all of Europe gets to share in the success of these fantastic athletes.”
KEY BROADCAST STATISTICS
Germany
ARD achieved a live average audience of 3.07 million for its athletics coverage, followed by 2.85 million for beach volleyball, both on August 15.
ZDF’s top live average audience so far was 4.15 million for its athletics coverage on August 16, followed by 2.4 million for Triathlon on 14 August.
Italy
RAI’s top live average audience was 1.6 million for athletics on August 16, followed by 0.9 million for gymnastics on August 14.
Netherlands
NPO scored its highest viewing share so far for its coverage of the women’s artistic gymnastics finals on August 14 (27.5%), followed by track cycling on the same day (27.2%).
Norway
NRK’s live coverage of the evening athletics session on August 16 won a 55.2% audience share, followed by a 28% share for beach volleyball on the same day.
Poland
TVP’s top live average audience was 0.79 million for athletics on August 11, followed by 0.38 million for sport climbing (speed) on August 15.
Sweden
SVT won a 35% viewing share for its coverage of Athletics on August 15.
UK
The BBC’s top live average audience was 1.5 million for its athletics coverage on August 15, and it also scored a 19.4% viewing share for its coverage of a variety of sports (athletics, beach volleyball, track cycling and table tennis), on the afternoon of August 16.
About the EBU at the European Championships Munich 2022: EBU Members broadcasting the European Championships Munich 2022 include: ORF (Austria); RTBF & VRT (Belgium); BNT/BNR (Bulgaria); HRT (Croatia); CYBC (Cyprus); CT/CR (Czech Republic); DR (Denmark); ERR (Estonia); YLE (Finland); France Televisions/SRF/RFI (France); ARD & ZDF (Germany); ERT (Greece); MTVA (Hungary); RUV (Iceland); RTE ( Ireland); RAI (Italy); LT/LR (Latvia); LRT (Lithuania); NOS (Netherlands); NRK (Norway); TVP/PR (Poland); RTP (Portugal); RTR (Russia); RTS (Serbia); RTVS (Slovakia); RTVSLO (Slovenia); RTVE (Spain); SVT/SR (Sweden); SRG-SSR (Switzerland); TRT (Turkey); BBC (UK).
Eurovision Services, an EBU company, is providing services for the distribution of the international signal for the event, making it available across Europe, Asia and the Americas on six separate multilateral feeds. The company is also providing dedicated services to seven EBU members.