In the Yearly Sport Key Facts 2018 report, EurodataTV Worldwide Sports Dir Yassine-Guillaume Berhoun said, "The 2017/2018 season was an exceptional sports season marked by the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and then the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with audience highs that had seldom been achieved before," according to BROADBAND TV NEWS. Berhoun added, "Although the increasing number of screens used allows viewers to enjoy a richer and more interactive offering at any time of the day or night, the audience results once again show that the TV screen still reigns supreme." The PyeongChang Winter Olympics were a "resounding success globally," despite events taking place at times that were "rather inconvenient for people in most time zones." It "came as no surprise" that the 2018 World Cup was the season’s most watched event. In 31 countries -- out of the 47 studied in the Yearly Sport Key Facts report -- the season’s "best sports audience was achieved for a football match;" these were for World Cup matches in 26 countries. With four European teams qualifying for the semifinals of the World Cup, the event "was a success throughout Europe, and not just in the countries participating." In the Netherlands, despite the national team failing to qualify, "the season’s four biggest sports audiences were achieved for World Cup matches." In Italy -- "another major team that failed to qualify" -- the final between France and Croatia achieved the second-highest audience figures of the season, with 11.7 million fans tuning in to Italia 1 (66.2% of the audience share). Although the World Cup and the Olympic Games "dominated the audience highs," other sports and competitions did, as is the case every year, "come up trumps at a national level." In Thailand, the 10 most-watched sports programs were matches played by the women’s national volleyball team. In Ukraine, the season’s two highest audiences were for boxing matches. In India, cricket accounted for 71% of the sport watched on TV between Sept. '17 and July '18, "for an offering of 61%" (BROADBAND TV NEWS, 12/18).
