RTL Scores Record Audience Ratings With European Championship Quarter-Final
On Saturday evening, RTL showed the Netherlands vs. Turkey match in the European Soccer Championship quarter-finals, and scored its best European Championship ratings to date. At its peak, up to 13.2 million soccer fans watched the Netherlands’ dramatic victory. RTL broadcast twelve UEFA Euro 2024 matches in all.
The Netherlands have reached the semi-finals of the European Soccer Championship, and ensured record ratings for RTL while they were at it. Viewership of the Netherlands’ hard-fought 2:1 victory over Turkey peaked at 13.20 million for RTL’s free-to-air TV broadcast on Saturday evening. Overall, RTL’s broadcast from Berlin averaged 10.37 million viewers, more than any previous live broadcast of the tournament on RTL. The European Championship quarter-final attracted 41.3 percent of the overall audience and achieved impressive ratings in the target demographics of 14 to 59-year-olds (51.1 percent) and 14 to 49-year-olds (57.6 percent).
“We’re thrilled with the phenomenal performance of this home European Championship for RTL Deutschland,” says Inga Leschek, Chief Content Officer at RTL Deutschland. “First and foremost, the excellent ratings for our live broadcasts, culminating in the exciting quarter-finals with an outstanding tournament best for RTL. Overall, the home European Championships completely exceeded our expectations, is our most successful program brand in TV and streaming, and, after the jungle show (editor’s note: German edition of “I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here”), also the best new audience driver on RTL+ this year. Even after the heartbreaking elimination of the German national team, we are following the final spurt of the tournament with full power and enthusiasm, continuing to show the highlights of all matches and conveying the soccer mood in the country in RTL’s daily primetime Euro Studio and on our channels and platforms.”
With a daily market share of 22.0 percent among viewers aged 14 to 49, RTL was well ahead of all other stations on Saturday. The Cologne-based station also achieved good total audience ratings (15.2 percent) and attracted 19.4 percent of 14- to 59-year-olds.
The Netherlands vs. Turkey match was the last UEFA Euro 2024 match to be shown on RTL. RTL had secured a total of twelve matches from the tournament in advance – ten group stage matches, one round of 16 match, and one quarter-final match – and built one of Europe’s most modern studios at the RTL broadcasting center in Cologne-Deutz specifically for these broadcasts. Until next Sunday’s final, RTL’s daily European Championship coverage will focus on the primetime show “Das RTL EM-Studio – Alle Spiele, Tore, Emotionen” (The RTL Euro Studio – All the Matches, Goals, Emotions). Every match day at 8:15 p.m., Elton and Thomas Helmer join Jan Köppen and Stefan Effenberg to give an entertaining presentation of the highlights of the day’s matches, wittily analyzed by experts from the world of soccer.
