June 24 – Worldwide television audiences for the Confederations Cup continue to grow despite the adverse publicity generated by the widespread protests in Brazil. In the second round of matches, markets including Japan, Spain, Germany and the UK – the last two of which don’t have a team in the competition – all witnessed increases in viewing figures.
According to FIFA, more than 40 million viewers in 10 key television markets around the world watched Brazil’s second game against Mexico on Wednesday July 19, underlining FIFA’s conviction that the tournament can be turned into a major international sporting event.
That audience compares favourably with other popular global sports such as Formula 1, which achieved an average of 30.2 million viewers across the same markets in 2012.
Japan was just one of many TV markets that enjoyed their biggest audiences of the tournament so far during the second round. Their game against Italy on July 19 attracted 8.7 million viewers on Fuji TV – a 70% increase on their opening match figures.
Elsewhere, audience numbers remained strong at what FIFA pointed out was usually a quiet time for television ratings. RAI Uno in Italy accounted for more than half of last Wednesday’s Italian television audience during the game against Japan, pulling in 4.8 million viewers for a group stage tie that kicked off at midnight local time.
More than 26 million in host market Brazil saw their country record a second victory against Mexico.
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