Following France’s friendly against Sweden on Nov. 18, European research firm Kantar Sport compiled the average audience ratings for the French national team during '14 and "found that the Bleus attracted an average of 9.6 million viewers per match," according to L’EQUIPE. Of the 15 meetings on the calendar, the 10 friendly matches drew 6.4 million viewers on French TV network TF1 while the five World Cup matches "yielded nearly 16 million viewers on average" on French TV network beIN Sports. The quarterfinal match against Germany "garnered the best audience of the year" with 16.9 million viewers. Kantar Sport also analyzed the media coverage of the team. From March through November, the French team was "covered in 141,000 multi-media pieces (press, radio, TV and internet)." Among them, France's national coach Didier Deschamps was the "most mentioned during this period" with more than 19,000 alerts, articles and citations. French forward Karim Benzema was the top player with 9,400 media mentions, followed by French winger Franck Ribéry (8,200), "whose int’l retirement announcement has been written about extensively." Next in line is French midfielder Mathieu Valbuena, "who was the best passer for the Bleus" in '14 (5,800 mentions) and French defender Raphaël Varane with 5,500 mentions (L’EQUIPE, 11/21).
