ManU-Real Madrid Champions League Match Hits Five-Year Ratings High In U.K.

ITV's coverage of ManU being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid "attracted an average of 10 million viewers" in the U.K. Tuesday, according to John Plunkett of the London GUARDIAN. It was "the most-watched Champions League match on ITV" since 11.1 million people watched ManU beat Chelsea on penalties in the '08 final. Full coverage of Tuesday's match attracted an average of 9 million viewers for a 35.2% share between 7:30pm and 10pm local time. The game had a five-minute peak of 10.96 million viewers, averaging 9.8 million viewers "during the course of the match itself" (GUARDIAN, 3/6).

SPAIN: EUROPA PRESS reported free-to-air channel La1's broadcast of the match was watched by an average audience of 9.8 million viewers and a 45.4% share. Overall, 17.5 million people tuned in to watch at least a minute of Madrid's 2-1 victory. The "golden minute" occurred at 10:23 local time when 12.2 million viewers were tuned in and a 51.9% share (EUROPA PRESS, 3/6).

GERMANY: QUOTEN METER's Patricia Schätzler reported German pay-TV channel Sky "recorded top ratings for its broadcast of Tuesday Champions League games." An average of 1.08 million viewers tuned in to watch either Sky's simulcast of both games or an individual game. The number equaled a strong 3.8% market share. In the target demographic 14-49, the matchups between ManU against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund against Shakhtar Donetsk attracted 590,000 viewers, which translated into an excellent market share of 5.8%. Following the conclusion of the games, Sky aired summaries of both matches and recorded a 3.9% market share in the target demographic with 250,000 viewers tuned in. Overall, the summaries of Dortmund's and Madrid's victories attracted 380,000 viewers or a 2.3% share (QUOTEN METER, 3/6).