Dhe arduous draw by the German national soccer team against Hungary at the European Championship cracked the 25 million mark for the first time in the TV quota – and at the same time confirmed the trend in the preliminary round: the ratings are significantly lower than five years ago at the European Championship in France . “Overall, people watch less football,” said ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky, summarizing the preliminary round that ended on Wednesday evening.
In figures, this means: an average of 8.805 million watched the group games on ARD and ZDF during the current tournament, compared with 10.797 million in 2016. That is a considerable decrease of 18.5 percent. Football enthusiasm looks different.
The balance after the 26 live games in the public service programs is ambivalent. On the one hand, the EM attracts more viewers in front of the TV sets evening after evening than any other program. On Wednesday, an average of 25.74 million people saw the ZDF broadcast of 2: 2 for the DFB team in Munich and the associated move into the round of 16. And the live games almost always ensure market shares that no “crime scene” has achieved – on Wednesday it was 71.4 percent. “The TV values are outstanding at the German games,” said ZDF sports director Thomas Fuhrmann.
Online growth in streams
On the other hand, the numbers are falling compared to the 2016 European Championships and the 2018 World Cup. And those who watch, “are even more focused on German games than on the others,” said Balkausky. Not a single one of the 23 games without the DFB-Elf broke the ten million mark.
Balkausky said the increase in the use of media libraries or the stream such as on sportschau.de had to be deducted from the losses in traditional television. ARD team boss Steffen Simon explained: “We were able to increase the access to the live streams significantly compared to previous tournaments.” The second reported on Thursday: “With 4.02 million viewings, the game between Germany and Hungary is the most successful event livestream to date in the ZDFmediathek. “
What are the reasons for the falling audience figures? Media scientist Jana Wiske said: “Football has lost relevance and proximity. So currently more important, existential issues dominate the everyday life of many people. And we have been living at a distance for many months – also from football. ”The professor at Ansbach University criticized that“ professional football did not always accept its special role in the pandemic with the necessary humility and ignore values ”. “All of this paints a remote picture. Its importance in society is decreasing and it also leads to less media consumption. “
From the point of view of Kerstin Niederauer-Kopf from AGF Video Research, “the nationwide easing of the corona restrictions in combination with the good weather” are another reason. The chairman of the AGF management sees after “one and a half years of corona-related domestic isolation” in the private sector, “there is a lot of catching up to do”.
In addition, weak games of the DFB selection, such as against Hungary, prevent great enthusiasm. “In the second half of the tournament, the audience’s interest will of course also depend on how the German national team performs,” said ARD team boss Simon. The exact numbers for the entire tournament will only be available after the European Championship. The following should also be taken into account: Even the paid Internet service MagentaTV, which exclusively showed ten games, has a number of TV viewers – not published by Telekom.
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