Over the course of the last decade, the French soccer team has entertained the world with its stylish and skillful brand of play, especially from the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry. Its success has meant that its matches have in the past attracted very large TV audiences globally, compared with other teams.
Hundreds of millions of fans globally saw France’s games when they hosted World Cup 1998. At that tournament, their matches were the second most watched globally, behind only the ever-popular Brazil. With Brazil naturally not playing at Euro 2000, France’s matches were the most watched of all at that tournament, when France added the European crown to their world title.
Initiative’s most recent ViewerTrack, however, shows that until now the French team has not attracted TV viewers around the world in the same numbers as it used to. During their relatively disappointing World Cup 2002 and Euro 2004 campaigns, they slipped to the 7th most watched out of all participating teams. After the first 32 matches of World Cup 2006, they were only the 9th most watched team in terms of global average viewing figures.
The Spanish appear to be particularly uninterested in France’s matches at World Cup 2006. Out of the 32 participating teams, France’s matches have so far only attracted the 26th highest audiences in Spain. This means France’s games are of even less interest to the Spanish than the likes of Togo, Trinidad & Tobago and Paraguay. However, this is set to change after France and Spain played each other in the Second Round.
Unsurprisingly, the French team still enjoys great home support and is the most-watched team in France itself. The Brazilian audience also appears to enjoy France’s matches. In Brazil, France’s matches are the fourth most watched so far. Let's see what happens on Saturday night!
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