Americans Showing High Interest In Euro Championships

Data from Euro 2012 broadcaster ESPN reveals that almost twice as many Americans are watching this summer's Euro Championships compared to four years ago, according to Simon Evans of REUTERS. This year's 24 group stage games "averaged just over" 1 million viewers compared to 552,000 in '08. So far, the tournament's most watched game has been Spain and Italy's 1-1 draw on June 10, "which pulled in an average audience" of 2.1 million viewers. That number is bigger than "any game four years ago except the final." ESPN also said that "figures for their digital and Spanish-language products had also risen sharply."  ESPN's 2010 World Cup coverage set "new highs" including a 15.5 million audience for the Spain-Netherlands final (REUTERS, 6/21).