Netherlands vs. Argentina becomes the second most-watched FIFA World Cup™ match ever, behind only the 2010 Final
An average audience of more than 3.1 million Canadians watched Argentina’s shootout victory on Wednesday
Semifinal action from 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ was appointment viewing for Canadians as they flocked to TV screens across the country to watch Germany and Argentina secure their spots in the Final. Yesterday’s thrilling semifinal match that saw Argentina defeat the Netherlands in a shootout was the most-watched game of the tournament so far and the second-most-watched FIFA World Cup™ game ever, trailing only the final game from the 2010 tournament (4.9 million).
Overall, nearly 9.1 million Canadians tuned in to at least part of yesterday’s live match coverage with more than three quarters of a million people watching online. The matched garnered an average audience of more than 3.1 million viewers on CBC and a share of nearly half of the entire available English television audience in Canada during the match. Of the 9.1 million people who tuned in during the live coverage, more than 780,000 were watching online.
Additional semifinal audience highlights are as follows:
• The Netherlands/Argentina semifinal audience peaked at nearly 5.3 million at 6:43 p.m. ET as Argentina clinched the victory• The audience for yesterday’s semifinal match featuring the Netherlands posted an audience 59 per cent higher than the 2010 semifinal match also featuring the Dutch team when it defeated Uruguay•Tuesday’s Germany vs. Brazil semifinal was the second-most-watched match of the tournament with an impressive average of more than 2.9 million viewers•The audience for the Germany/Brazil match peaked at nearly 4.2 million at 5:47 p.m. ET, just as the match was coming to an end•The live semifinal matches averaged an audience of just over 3 million viewers, representing an increase of 36 per cent compared to the same matches in 2010•Overall, 13.3 million Canadians tuned in to the live semifinal matches on CBC/Radio-Canada or its broadcast partners across all platforms, with 5.7 million tuning in from outside of the home•Television viewership across Canada during the live semifinal match broadcasts on Tuesday and Wednesday increased by 33 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively, compared to a typical Tuesday and Wednesday
CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ will continue this weekend with the Third Place match on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. PT) and the Final match on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT). Both games will also be available live on CBCSports.ca and via CBC’s FIFA World Cup™ App brought to you by Bell for iOS and Android. In addition, the final match will be broadcast live on CBC Radio One beginning at 2:45 p.m. ET (11:45 a.m. PT) with hosts Matt Galloway and Scott Regehr with play-by-play commentator Nigel Reed and analyst Bob Iarusci.
Source: Numeris (formerly BBM Canada)
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