Zug, Switzerland, 13 June 2006 – The 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ got off to a truly phenomenal start not only in terms of packed stadiums and thrilling action on the pitch.

The world’s most-watched sports event also looks set to beat expectations in terms of television audiences in Europe, judging from initial viewing figures, provided by FIFA’s and Infront’s research agency Sponsorship Intelligence, from the first three days of play.

 

The culmination of many years of planning have achieved reality with a weekend of spectacular football transmitted by more than 500 broadcast partners and in more than 200 countries and territories throughout the world.

 

In the host country of Germany, the ZDF coverage of the tournament's opening game featuring the host nation was watched by 20.13 million, a market share of 76%. It was the most viewed FIFA World Cup™ opening match in history of German television.

 

England's opening match against Paraguay reached 84% market share in the United Kingdom. 12 million people tuning in BBC 1’s coverage, which matched the average for England’s group stage games in 2002. This rating does not include the out-of-home viewing television audience, which is expected to be significant due to the air time of this match (Saturday at 2pm).

 

Although the French national team has not played yet, the first three games broadcast on TF1 have shown much improved ratings on average than all the games in 2002 not featuring France (12.0).

 

Netherlands's qualification for the 2006 event (the country failed to qualify in 2002) has helped boost the ratings in the country.  Approximately 5.5 million watched the team beat Serbia-Montenegro on NL 2. This, a market share of 89.4%, was well over half more than tuned into the 2002 final.

 

In Poland, the audience for the game against Ecuador surpassed the 2002 top television rating (TVR*) which involved the final, Brazil v Germany - 25.7 v 25.3. The match was covered by TVP 1.

 

Also in Portugal the FIFA World Cup™ is being followed very closely. The national team's efforts against Angola drew 2.9 million viewers (a market share of 81%). This was over 30% higher than the top rated audience in 2002.

 

In Norway the TV 2 tuning into England's game against Paraguay attracted a market share of 81%.

 

At the moment, the assessment of the viewing patterns is based on “overnights” and audiences could be significantly higher once “out of home” viewing is added in to the total. This is likely to run at record levels for this FIFA World Cup™, given the current public viewing trend and the effect of new media options.

 

Infront Sports & Media will provide further summary highlights of television audience figures worldwide on a regular basis throughout the course of the tournament.

The company is exclusively responsible for the worldwide marketing and sales of the broadcast rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. It has made the event more widely available than ever before. There will be the highest number of broadcasters (more than 500) in the history of the FIFA World Cup™ and coverage provided in virtually every country of the world.

 

The Infront press kit and full lists of the broadcast partners and new media licensees for 2006 FIFA World Cup™ are available at www.infrontsports.com/press.

 

* Expressed as a percentage, TVR is defined as the proportion of individuals viewing each broadcast in relation to the total potential audience of the channel.)

 

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For further information please contact:
Jörg Polzer
Manager, Communication & PR
Infront Sports & Media AG
Event Tel. +49-(0)89-949 32 077 (until 5 July)
Event Mobile +49-(0)171-56 40 477 (until 10 July)
press@infrontsports.com
www.infrontsports.com