The World Cup final "is one of the rare events that pits ITV and BBC head to head in a battle for viewers," according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. But "if previous tournaments are anything to go by, the result will be a rating mismatch." The advertising-free football coverage of the BBC "has always proved more popular with armchair fans, and ITV's simulcast of the final is likely to be outscored by about 5 to 1 on audience levels."
More than 18 million viewers watched live coverage of the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, with 15.1 million opting for BBC1 and 3.3 million for ITV.
Yet for ITV "it is a beating worth taking as the only place advertisers can turn to hit World Cup fans," so ad revenues "will be up by well over 20% year on year across the tournament." The deep-pocketed BBC machine "prides itself on being able to outclass rivals with its coverage of big events, but the feeling is that this World Cup has perhaps not been vintage BBC." The question of "how the broadcasters have fared on TV ratings is an equally tricky assessment, and England's swiftest exit from a World Cup in 56 years certainly hasn't helped."
Viewing of England's group matches was down about 16% on '10, although the kickoff times "were more conducive to TV viewers." However, viewing of World Cup games "is thought to be up on 2010, and viewing across the entire tournament is tentatively expected to be up by 5%-7%, due to the high quality and big audiences attracted to non-England matches" (GUARDIAN, 7/11).
