Despite being delayed by a few minutes, the UEFA Champions League final received good free-to-air (FTA) viewership statistics in major European regions.
The average audience for the Spanish state broadcaster RTVE was 7.7 million viewers, with a 52.8 percent share. It was the most-watched Champions League final in the country since the 2014 final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Viewership on RTVE’s La 1 channel peaked at 8.7 million, with over 718,500 unique visits on the RTVE Play streaming service.
In France, an average of 5.9 million people watched TF1, giving the commercial network a 33.4% audience share. Canal+, a pay-TV network, attracted 1.06 million viewers. Last year’s all-English final between Chelsea and Manchester City attracted only 2.4 million viewers on RMC Story.
Canale 5 in Italy received an average audience of 6.1 million viewers, accounting for 33.7 per cent of the market. Sky Italia received 1.07 million viewers.
In Germany, free broadcasting ZDF attracted an average of 8.39 million viewers, giving it a market share of 34.5 per cent. This figure increased to 41.4% among people aged 14 to 49. DAZN, a sports streaming service, also televised the game but has not revealed viewership data. The final from last year was not available on German FTA television. The match was last shown on ZDF in 2020, when Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain, garnering around 12.8 million viewers.
The game was televised on pay-TV in the United Kingdom by BT Sport, which also streamed it for free on YouTube and allowed open access through its digital outlets. Viewing numbers have not yet been disclosed, but the final last year drew 8.7 million people across BT’s linear TV channel and digital platforms.
Real Madrid defeated Liverpool to win their 14th Champions League championship, but the game was overshadowed by wild circumstances outside the Stade de France, which delayed commencement by 36 minutes.