A new audience record. Twenty-four million viewers watched the FIFA World Cup final, which saw Argentina win against France on Sunday, TF1 reported on Monday (December 19th), describing a “Historic Audience Record” for French television.
This record is set “all programs and channels combined”, said TF1, citing figures from Médiamétrie. The precedent dates back to the Portugal-France semi-final of the 2006 World Cup, with 22.2 million viewers.
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Again on Wednesday, the semi-final against Morocco attracted 20.69 million viewers on TF1. It was then already a record audience for a World Cup since 2006.
A peak at 29.4 million viewers
On TF1, this final broadcast between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. won an audience share of 81%. This means that more than 8 out of 10 viewers watching television at that time were watching TF1. Viewership peaked at 29.4 million viewers, according to the channel.
Since the start of the competition in Qatar, TF1 has chained audience performances, despite calls for a boycott. The victory of the Blues against Morocco (2-0) in the semi-finals had thus gathered 20.69 million viewers.
The previous match, in the quarter-finals against England (2-1 victory), was watched by 17.7 million viewers. The France-Poland (3-1) match in the round of 16 had already been watched by 14.3 million viewers. The first match of the Blues against Australia (4-1) had gathered 12.5 million viewers on the first channel.
