Portuguese commercial broadcaster TVI witnessed a rise in viewership during the round-of-16 clash of Euro 2020 between current European champions Portugal and Belgium. Belgium went onto win the game, courtesy of Thorgan Hazard’s fine strike. Belgium will now face Italy in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
According to a report by IPG Mediabrands, the viewership has increased 30 percent since Portugal’s defeat against Uruguay in the 2018 FIFA World Cup round of 16. A sublicensing deal between Sport TV and TVI, SIC, and public broadcaster RTP was struck before the beginning of Euro 2020 and it was agreed that TVI will be given rights to broadcast 12 games of the tournament (eight group-stage fixtures, (two round-of-16 matches, one quarter-final, and one semi-final).
An average audience of 3.8 million viewers watch the match which is also the highest audience in Portugal this year. This was also equivalent to a market share of 69.9 per cent.
Portugal’s pay-television network Sport TV also saw increase in viewership as 137,000 people watched the game on the network.
The opening fixture of Portugal against Hungary witnessed a viewership of 2.3 million on SIC (67.8-per-cent share). The second clash against Germany was broadcasted on TVI and 2.7 million viewers (64.2-per-cent share) watched the game. Meanwhile, RTP’s ratings showed a viewership of 3.5 million which was the highest in group stage in the game against France with a share per cent of 69.3
Earlier, the viewership record was set Euro 2004 final when Portugal locked horns with Greece. Italy’s broadcaster Rai also registered a 61.1 percent market share after Italy’s extra-time win over Austria in the round of 16 and 13.3 million viewers saw the game. Even the Dutch National team clash against the Czech Republic which resulted in a 2-0 win in favour of the Czech’s had clinched the viewership of 5.7 million Dutch public broadcaster NOS.