The ongoing UEFA European Women's Championship soccer tournament in England has already attracted more viewers – both TV and online – than any previous edition of the event.
The previous cumulative audience record of 164 million, which was set during the last edition of the event in the Netherlands in 2017, was surpassed during England’s quarter-final victory against Spain late last week, European soccer’s governing body UEFA announced yesterday (July 26).
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The figure will of course continue to increase – but especially given England’s 4-0 victory in their semi-final encounter against Sweden yesterday.
The hosts will now go on to play either Germany or France in the tournament final on July 31, with a substantial TV audience sure to watch.
UEFA has also said that during the group stage of the tournament, which ended earlier this month, over 152 million social media interactions were generated around the matches.
The main platforms on which these interactions were secured are TikTok (39.7%), Instagram (26.1%), and Twitter (19.1%).
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By GlobalDataGuy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA, said: “These excellent TV viewing figures show the massive appeal of the tournament, as well as the strong development of women’s football in the last years. We are engaging more neutral fans and seeing exceptional growth as this edition of the tournament continues to break TV viewing records.
“We are now deep into the knockout phase of this edition of the Women’s Euro and we are looking forward to even greater TV and social media numbers as the stakes and the jeopardy become higher …”
UEFA has said that overall, viewing figures for Euro 2022 are up by 58% compared to the 2017 edition.
England’s 2-1 quarter-final victory against Spain last week drew a peak audience of 7.6 million on the UK’s BBC One public service channel.
A further 1.5 million watched England vs. Spain on the BBC iPlayer streaming platform and the BBC Sport website and app.
That figure was the largest of the tournament so far, although it is likely that last night’s clash will have gone past it and that the Wembley final will see the highest peak TV audience for women’s soccer in the UK surpassed.
The latter record was set during the England-USA encounter in the semi-finals of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, when a peak audience of 11.7 million was secured.
England's 1-0 win against Austria in the 2022 Euros' opening fixture, meanwhile, secured the largest attendance in tournament history, with over 68,000 turning up to Manchester's Old Trafford stadium to watch the hosts secure a winning start.
Again, given the final is at Wembley Stadium in London, with a near-sell-out crowd expected at the 90,000-plus-capacity arena.
The total attendance record for a Women's Euros, meanwhile, was broken at the France vs. Belgium group stage game of this tournament with 15 games remaining.
