January 21 – The Africa Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Senegal saw big audiences tuned in all over Europe.
In France, M6 broadcast Senegal’s win with 3.4 million viewers tuning in. It was the most viewers for the tournament in that country for 18 years. BeIN Sports sub-licensed the match to M6.
The final had everything to keep people watching: play stopped for 16 minutes because Senegal’s players walked off the pitch, Diaz missing a ‘Panenka’, and Pape Gueye scoring the winning goal in extra time.
More viewers watched than the last tournament in 2023, which only had 793,000 viewers on W9. BeIN also had good numbers, with about 595,000 viewers on average and 756,000 at the peak.
Outside of France, the tournament also garnered viewers. In the UK, Channel 4 showed the whole tournament for free and drew 1.7 million viewers. In Italy, Sportitalia had more than 900,000 viewers on average, especially when things got crazy near the end. Online, BeIN had more than 800 million video views on social media – 150% more than the last edition of AFCON.
The numbers show that people can’t get enough live football, no matter when or where it’s played. But can this last with more tournaments, longer seasons, and more games on TV than ever before?
Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]