Dhe “Bild” came to a fairly clear judgment in its résumé of the German TV experts at this European Championship – and an extremely accurate one. “More Almuth Schult, less Schweini” was the headline of the paper. “Already now”, it said in the article, “we know who we really want to see again from Qatar at the World Cup from November 21, 2022 – and who we would prefer to go to another desert …” Almuth Schult, an invigorating element in the men’s group of ARD, so the tenor of the comment, is indispensable with her refreshing expertise.
The 30-year-old is “sharp-tongued like Oliver Kahn, funny like Delling and Netzer together, dissecting like Jan Henkel (triumphed as an analyst on the pay channel MagentaTV). With Schult (to Immobile-Schwalbe: “He dropped into the depths to make room.”) The ARD even made a mistake Prince – only has a first name – Boateng and the sometimes too gockel-like moderation of the otherwise quick-witted Alex Bommes concealed. One would love to cross Uns Almuth with the ZDF top top expert Christoph Kramer and the best EM presenter Jochen Breyer (always ankle-free) as a TV trio – German Dynamite … “
One of the most beautiful television moments of the European Championship is Schult’s laughing fit. She kept snorting after her colleague Kevin-Prince Boateng said: “He’s been in the game for so long …” The laughing Schult even had to pass the next question: “I’m out.”
Schult convinced with authenticity and specialist knowledge
Schult delighted the TV audience with her naturalness and humor. From a German point of view, it was without a doubt the best at this European Championship. Also with their analyzes, which were much more accurate and relentless than with Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is also under contract with the first and caused the broadcaster to worry about other reasons during the tournament.
“We are European champions after all these months with Corona”
The Italians give in to their ecstasy of joy at winning the European Championship. The English fans, on the other hand, are shocked. Two countries – incredible emotions. While the winners are celebrating, the losers “don’t want to eat any more pasta”.
What does an expert have to bring along for a successful television appearance? “I think authenticity, that you take the person seriously, whatever they are, that you feel good when you listen to them, that they are eloquent and that they have knowledge, take the viewers with them and inform them.” said before the tournament – and according to the audience and professional TV critics, the 30-year-old fully met these requirements in the following weeks.
Schult received consistently good ratings. “There was absolutely no negative feedback,” said ARD EM team boss Steffen Simon. “We were pleasantly surprised.” Those in charge of the public broadcaster feared that there could have been hostility and insults on the Internet, as with the ZDF commentator Claudia Neumann.
“That has a lot to do with their naturalness,” said the ARD team boss and praised the appearance of the 30-year-olds: “Their tactical explanations are sensational. She is totally courageous and clear. ”The goalkeeper, who has made 91 appearances for the national team and is under contract with Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, made good use of her experience.
Schult has also gained notoriety through her appearances, as she reported to the “Sportbuzzer” portal: “Once a taxi driver rolled down the window and shouted:“ You’re off the television, cool, you’re doing a good job! ”“ On the other hand: “Nothing has changed in the village where I live. That’s the most important thing anyway, ”said Schult, who lives with her husband and children in Wendland in Lower Saxony.
Schweinsteiger becomes a problem
While the national goalkeeper, who is also part of the “Football can do more” initiative, gave ARD a lot of pleasure during the European Championship, Schweinsteiger became a problem case. That had nothing to do with the criticism of his joint appearances with Jessy Wellmer, but with the surreptitious advertising affair.
The case has still not been finally resolved and is to be “processed internally” in the coming weeks, as the ARD says. An appearance by Schweinsteiger had caused anger at the station because he had advertised a watch at the same time.
The expert, who is under contract until the end of 2020, “published a post on social media at half-time without our knowledge as part of a paid advertising partnership,” criticized the broadcaster. He also “made it very clear that the ARD, according to its guidelines, does not tolerate any form of surreptitious advertising and unrecognized product placement of its protagonists”. The first is still waiting for a statement from Schweinsteiger and his management.
Top rate for ZDF in Italy’s triumph
In the meantime, the final figures have become public. In the final phase of the European Championship, the interest of the audience increased again significantly. At the end of the tournament, the final gave ZDF another top audience rating and more viewers than ARD at the EM 2016. An average of 20.90 million people saw Italy win against England on penalties on Sunday evening. According to the broadcaster, the market share was 64.4 percent. Only three games of the German national team had more TV viewers at the EM than the final.
Victory on penalties – Italy’s dramatic triumph in the video
Italy beat England in a captivating final and crown themselves European champions. Despite England’s lightning lead, the game goes into overtime. In the penalty shootout, Southgate’s extra substitute shooters fail their nerves. The highlights in the video.
The final of the EM, postponed by a year, was more successful than the final in 2016. Five years ago, according to the AGF video research, an average of 18.834 million people sat in front of the television. The market share of the ARD broadcast in Portugal’s victory against France was 59.5 percent at the time.
Viewed over the entire tournament, there were fewer TV viewers on ARD and ZDF. An average of 11.741 million watched in 2016, just under 10.4 million this time. However, the streaming figures – which have not yet been finally calculated – are not included in this value. In addition, Telekom does not publish how many people have used its paid Magenta TV service, which broadcasts all the games.
“It was incredibly quiet after the final whistle”
Party in Rome – mourning in London. England loses the European Championship final on penalties. Nevertheless, the pride prevails at having come this far. WELT reporter Stefanie Bolzen reports on the mood in London.
“We are overall satisfied with the popularity, on television, but also in the ZDF media library and on social media,” commented ZDF sports director Thomas Fuhrmann. Outside of classic TV, there were “record values. The charisma of football has proven itself again, ”said Fuhrmann. “The EM took a moment to find its audience.”
ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky said: “We are very pleased that the audience was very interested in the entire tournament and also shows the relevance of our broadcasts to the public.” Both channels were “very successful”, especially with younger viewers, as Fuhrmann emphasized.
The most successful game of the EM was the ARD broadcast of the defeat of the German national team against England with 27.49 million (market share 76.3 percent). The 4.6 million views of this game show the importance of live streams on the Internet in the meantime.
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