The final match of Euro 2016 was a slightly bigger draw in the overnights.
The Portugal/France Euro 2016 final earned a 3.1 overnight rating on ESPN Sunday afternoon, up a tick from Spain/Italy in 2012 (3.0) and even with Spain/Germany on ABC in 2008. It was not immediately clear whether the figures included pre-match coverage.
Outside of the World Cup and the Olympics, the 3.1 is tied as the highest for soccer on an English-language network in at least a dozen years. To put the numbers in perspective, the Chile/Argentina Copa America final scored a 2.2 overnight on Fox Sports 1 last month.
Portugal’s win ranked second for the weekend among sporting events behind Sunday’s U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials on NBC (5.2).
Shifting to semifinal action, Portugal/Wales scored 1.4 million viewers last Wednesday afternoon — down 29% from Spain/Portugal in 2012 (2.0M) and down a fraction of a percent from Germany/Turkey in 2008 (1.385M to 1.383M). France/Germany had 1.7 million the following day, down 9% from Italy/Germany in ’12 (1.9M) but up 37% from Russia/Spain in ’08 (1.2M). Figures include pre-match coverage.
(Sun. overnight from ESPN; semifinal numbers via ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2])
