Besides the French national team, the other champion of the 2018 World Cup tournament is TF1, France’s leading commercial network, which scored record ratings and an 82.2% market share for Sunday’s final game. The deciding match, which saw France beat Croatia by 4-2 and take home the champion’s trophy for the first time since 1998, drew 19.3 million viewers, according to Mediametrie. That figure rose to 22.3 million people by the end of the game. It marks the seventh-most-watched TV program ever in France and the most-watched soccer match since 2002. TF1 had exclusive free-to-air rights to 28 games, which it acquired from FIFA for about $82 million, while beIN Sports has all World Cup rights for France for 2018 and 2022, according to Jean-Baptiste Sergeant, an analyst at MainFirst. It’s unknown whether TF1 will be able to recoup its investment or if it will lose millions as it did during previous tournaments. Soccer is known for being a brand booster but a loss leader. The channel’s website, MYTF1, which live-streamed the games, also lured in many users, with 1.2 million visits during the final. Not counting the final, the six previous games played by the French team drew an average of 12.8 million viewers, a 70% market share. It’s a strong score considering that only one of these games was played in primetime. The ratings figure for the final game does not include the crowds who watched it in jam-packed bars and at other venues, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Stade du France arena, where the final aired ahead of Beyonce and Jay Z’s concert. Hundreds of thousands of French people thronged the streets Sunday to celebrate the victory, flooding iconic sites of Paris, waving flags and singing “La Marseillaise.”<doc-sep>UPDATED with final viewership: Twenty years after winning its one and only World Cup, France claimed FIFA’s biggest prize again Sunday in a 4-2 victory over Croatia that prompted a now-famous leap and fist pump by President Emmanuel Macron up in the VIP box, cheers and tears in the streets of Paris and all over the nation, a rain-drenched celebration in Moscow and Fox’s top result of the monthlong tournament. With an 8.3/21 in metered market results and 11.3 million viewers on Fox, the Sunday morning end to the Russia-hosted World Cup was a win and loss for Fox. The early metric is a clear victory, with a 66% jump over the previous top-rated game of the 2018 tournament for the Rupert Murdoch-owned network when Croatia beat Russia on July 6. The game peaked with a 10.0/25 MM rating in the 9:45-10 AM PT time slot ,and with an audience of 14.6 million in the 9:30-9:45 AM PT period. Related Story World Cup Final Scores 22.3M Peak In France As TF1 Secures Best Ratings Since 2016 Sunday’s France-winning final is the best metered market rating for any soccer match on Fox or Fox Sports 1 since Team USA beat Japan in the final of the 2015 Women’s World Cup. That match went on to pull in 25.4 million viewers for Fox, which is far far ahead of what’s yesterday’s final snagged. Still, Sunday’s match was the most watched non-NFL game on Fox this year. On the flipside, Sunday’s final was down a not insignificant 14% in metered market numbers and a hard 20% in viewership from ABC’s broadcast 2014 World Cup final, when Germany beat Argentina. Though this year’s tournament has had some impressive numbers, the fact is that Fox has always been hobbled ratingswise by the lack of an American presence in the 2018 World Cup. As we are at the end of the tournament, it is worth noting that Washington D.C. was not the No. 1 market for the final as it has been for so many of the big games this tournament. That top spot went to Comic-Con home San Diego, with a 13.8/33 MM rating topping the nation’s capital’s 13.6.34. One more stat: Fox and Fox Sports 1’s coverage of the 2018 World Cup from June 14-July 15 made up all of the top 20 highest-rated shows among men in the 18-49 demographic over the past month. Boys love their footie.<doc-sep>
The final matchup of the 2018 World Cup failed to deliver the same kind of numbers seen by 2014’s final. According to Nielsen data, the game between Croatia and France drew 11.3 million viewers on Fox and another 500,000 on Fox Sports for a total of 11.8 million. The 2014 final pulled in 17.3 million viewers on ABC, meaning this year’s game was down 32% in viewership. There were, of course, multiple factors working against Sunday’s final. Given the significant time difference between host country Russia and the United States, the game aired early on Sunday morning. France also took an early lead in the game, ultimately winning 4-2, which likely led many to tune out early. The U.S. men’s team also failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup, which also no doubt contributed to some in the States avoiding the tournament this time out. Those factors will be of little comfort to Fox, however, who reportedly shelled out over $400 million dollars in 2011 for the rights to broadcast the games both in 2018 and 2022. Meanwhile, the game drew record ratings on TF1, France’s leading commercial network. The network averaged 19.3 million viewers during the game, capturing an 82.2% market share. The drop off in the World Cup ratings comes amid a much larger drop off in the linear ratings for major sporting events. Events like the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, and the NCAA men’s basketball finals all saw noticeable declines in their linear numbers within the last year.