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Uh, Linda 2.2 million for a population of 16 million is still a lot. Eight million for a WC game is crazy! Imagine it. Our Super Bowl draws 100 million which is the most out of the year for any sporting event. That's nearly half the population. So your country just had the equivalent of four Super Bowls in a row!
How many Dutch do you think saw the final vs Spain in 2010?
I know it's a lot, and this was actually the least-watched CL final in years. The final between Barca and Manchester United drew 3.5 million viewers. Around 300 million people watch the CL final globally so it dwarfs the Super Bowl in that respect.
The WC final against Spain was watched by 12.215.000 people, which was actually slightly less than the SF against Uruguay (12.270.000 people) as it was in the weekend when a lot of people were going on holiday.
You also have to take into account that it's very common to watch games on a big screen or in bars here. I read that the actual number of people who watched Netherlands - Mexico is closer to 11.5 million, for example.
Your numbers are off...There are 310 million people in the USA...112 million watched the Super Bowl..think about that.
USA- belgium had 16.2 million views... but what impressed me is Brazil/Chile had 6.2 million! That is actually very interesting. Again though..I think its the WC's attraction that keeps people viewing. If TV ratings are in the millions for a Premier League game then I'll be impressed. That doesn't happen and won't I don't think.
I'm telling you WC is rivaling the Olympics for the simple man draw and that is amazing. Too bad they can't do it every 2 years.
Why would a regular EPL game draw millions of viewers? It doesn't have that many viewers even in football-crazy countries. If you want to compare the WC to club football, you should look at the CL. People watch the CL purely because they want to see the best footballers in the world even when there is no national allegiance. The football on display in the CL is of a much higher level than in the WC. It won't be long before the CL final draws millions of viewers in the US as well, especially if there's an American player in that final. There were already 2.6 million Americans who watched the Barca - ManU final and 1.9 million Americans who watched the final this year.
Your numbers are off...There are 310 million people in the USA...112 million watched the Super Bowl..think about that.
USA- belgium had 16.2 million views... but what impressed me is Brazil/Chile had 6.2 million! That is actually very interesting. Again though..I think its the WC's attraction that keeps people viewing. If TV ratings are in the millions for a Premier League game then I'll be impressed. That doesn't happen and won't I don't think.
I'm telling you WC is rivaling the Olympics for the simple man draw and that is amazing. Too bad they can't do it every 2 years.
One thing preventing the Premier League from getting better ratings is that its on early in the morning, as early as 4am on the west coast.
Taking that into account the TV ratings for the EPL have been very impressive. For the big matchups (Chelsea vs Man U etc) they have gotten over the million mark. I think the avg over the season was around 750k. Compare that to the NBA on TNT which gets similar ratings and is on during prime time.
Why would a regular EPL game draw millions of viewers? It doesn't have that many viewers even in football-crazy countries. If you want to compare the WC to club football, you should look at the CL. People watch the CL purely because they want to see the best footballers in the world even when there is no national allegiance. The football on display in the CL is of a much higher level than in the WC. It won't be long before the CL final draws millions of viewers in the US as well, especially if there's an American player in that final. There were already 2.6 million Americans who watched the Barca - ManU final and 1.9 million Americans who watched the final this year.
Linda, your stats are great. Are you a regular football fan?
And yes I've noticed that club football especially in the Premier League is WAY better than the football in the WC. I was floored the first time I saw a Barca vs Real Madrid game. I used to only follow the World Cup but now I love club soccer just as much.
One thing preventing the Premier League from getting better ratings is that its on early in the morning, as early as 4am on the west coast.
Taking that into account the TV ratings for the EPL have been very impressive. For the big matchups (Chelsea vs Man U etc) they have gotten over the million mark. I think the avg over the season was around 750k. Compare that to the NBA on TNT which gets similar ratings and is on during prime time.
Those are very impressive numbers. For a niche sport from another country that's aired early as hell in the morning is amazing. That's something ppl need to understand when they jab at soccer in the US.
It's not that different from here tbh. The national team draws a lot of attention and millions of people tune in when there's a Euro or WC. But club games are more of a niche thing and average attendance is around 20,000. This is still way more than other sports because we don't really have a sports culture (in terms of attending league games), it's very different from the US. I never watch Eredivisie games and don't have any local team I support.
The only exception to this is the Champions League but this is like the World Cup of club games. Still, the Champions League final draws only a fraction of viewers any Euro/WC game involving the NT does.
I would say the same is true for pretty much all European countries.
Edit: To illustrate my point: around 8 million people watched our games against Chile, Mexico and CR (not counting those who got together and watched it on a big screen). This is literally half the population. By contrast, the CL final this year drew 2.2 million viewers. Club football will never be as big as NT football and that is true even for the most football-obsessed countries.
And neither do we.
Just for comparison, the hockey league (which is the biggest spectator sport in Finland), draws around 4500 on average. The football league maybe 2500, the basketball league 900. But when France is playing WC quals against Finland in Helsinki, it's sold out with 37k spectators, and the Finland-Spain match last autumn was sold out in hours. Even in totally sports crazy nations like Serbia, a football league match between weak teams may attract 300 spectators.
This WC has had a spectator average of over 900k out of a population of 5.5m so far, and we don't even play in it!
Some other sports events attract huge crowds, as long as it's once a year or every 4 years. Going to a match on a rainy late October evening between the league 10th and 12th is a niche thing all over Europe, just as you said.
And the WC is a spectacle, and everyone wants to be a part of it, never mind if they can't care less for the next year.
Linda, your stats are great. Are you a regular football fan?
Yes. She was participating in the Ajax - Feyenoord mass fight in 1997.
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I just did a quick google search.
