Football TV ratings
FC Bayern’s failure apparently did ARD’s “Sportschau” good
As of: 12:53 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Here you can listen to our WELT podcasts
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.
The past Bundesliga season attracted significantly more viewers to the TV sets than before. This applies above all to the ARD “Sportschau”, but also to other channels. The growth in the 2nd league was even greater than in the 1st league.
Football fans watched significantly more Bundesliga football on television again. After the declines of previous years, ARD’s “Sportschau” recorded an increase in the past season with the summaries of the 1st league late on Saturday afternoon. And other football formats on Sky and ZDF also increased.
According to ARD, an average of 3.845 million people watched the “Sportschau” on Saturday from 6.30 p.m. in the 2023/24 season. This is a visible increase from 3.662 million in the previous season. “Although television usage is declining overall, the reach has increased by almost 200,000,” commented ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky: “We are very satisfied with the figures.”
Why was there an increase again after recently declining numbers? “You can see what influence it has when the same club doesn’t always win the championship and there is an unexpected outcome to the season,” said the ARD sports director. After the monotony of eleven Munich championships, Bayer Leverkusen won the title for the first time this season.
also read
“The fans see that it’s interesting again,” said Balkausky. The ARD sports coordinator pointed out another aspect – in addition to the exciting relegation battle. “Bayern’s failure also arouses interest,” he said: “There are also fans who like to see Bayern lose.”
Leverkusen only appeared in the “Sportschau” 14 times
However, ARD rarely had the champions themselves on the program; Bayer Leverkusen is in last place in the “Sportschau” TV ranking. The classic TV show only showed summaries of Leverkusen games 14 times. The fact that the Bayer team was shown less than any other Bundesliga team in the traditional sports program is mainly due to their successful European Cup appearances.
also read
After Thursday’s Europa League matches, Leverkusen did not play in the domestic league again until Sunday. Even with the increasing number of Bayer appearances in the top match on Saturday at 6.30 p.m., there was no report in the “Sportschau”. By comparison: Bayern Munich and Borussia were each shown 19 times on ARD late on Saturday afternoon.
also read
Sustainable weight loss
The increase in spectators in the 2nd league was even greater than in the 1st league. An average of 2.18 million viewers saw the reports in the “Sportschau” on Sunday. In the previous season there were 1.89 million. “The 2nd league was very exciting for a long time, we noticed that in the numbers,” said the ARD sports coordinator. “It is of course also noticeable that many big names are there,” he said, referring to Schalke 04, Hertha, HSV and other traditional clubs.
Sky reported a record
Sky’s second division growth was even more significant than ARD’s. According to its own information, the pay-TV broadcaster recorded an increase of 25 percent. The average reach of a matchday in the 2nd league was 1.91 million.
This also offset the seven percent decline in the 1st league (2.75 million), so that Sky editor-in-chief Alexander Rösner was able to report a record: “In the entirety of the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga, we achieved our previous record again just exceed it.”
Here you will find content from third parties
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this at . You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and via privacy at the bottom of the page.
ZDF’s “Sportstudio” was also able to slightly increase its average audience from 1.83 to 1.91 million viewers. Sat.1, on the other hand, recorded a decline from an average of 3.99 to 3.49 million viewers for its five live games in the first league. The main reason for the minus is the ratings flop in the experiment with the 3.30 p.m. game, which was broadcast for the first time and had fewer than 1.5 million viewers.
