German public broadcaster ARD "recorded top ratings for its broadcasts of the Sochi Winter Olympics and Bundesliga," according to Manuel Nunez Sanchez of QUOTENMETER. The new Olympic snowboard discipline, slopestyle, which started at 6:15am on Saturday morning, was watched by 1.22 million viewers. The number translated into a market share of 22.6%. Following the slopestyle coverage, ARD obtained a 24.8% market share for its women's hockey broadcast, which started at 9:05am. Starting at 11am, 2.88 million viewers tuned in to watch cross-country skiing. The number equaled a 31.4% share. A lot of ARD's coverage on Saturday afternoon was devoted to men's speed skating. The first part of the coverage, which started at 12:30pm, was watched by an average of 3.15 million viewers. The second part, starting at 1:30pm, attracted 3.75 million viewers. Speed skating obtained market shares of 27% and 27.8%, respectively. In the target demographic 14-49, ARD's broadcast obtained 940,000 viewers and had a 18.6% share. While the timing for the biathlon event could not have been any worse -- it started at 3:30pm, which is the kickoff time of Bundesliga games -- the ratings were "outstanding." Biathlon attracted 6.4 million viewers and had a market share of 35%. Following the biathlon race, the ski jumping qualification was watched by 6.54 million viewers and had a 31.1% share at 5:30pm. In the target demographic, the biathlon event obtained a market share of 24.1% while 1.6 million viewers tuned in. Ski jumping attracted 1.43 million viewers and had a 20.7% share.
BUNDESLIGA: ARD's Bundesliga highlights show "Sportschau" attracted the day's highest viewership. A total of 6.73 million viewers tuned it at 6:30pm to watch the program. The number translated into a market share of 26.1%. In the target demographic, Sportschau was watched by 1.87 million viewers and had a 22.4% market share (QUOTENMETER, 2/9).
