Record numbers watch final in Spain

Spain’s historic 4-0 thumping of Italy in the Euro 2012 final drew the highest TV viewership of any football match in the nation’s history, industry figures showed yesterday.

An average 15.481 million people, or 83.4 per cent of the audience, saw Spain take an unprecedented third straight title, said Kantar Media data released by analysts Barlovento Comunicacion.

It was the greatest audience recorded in Spain for a football match, and the third most-watched programme in Spanish history, Barlovento Comunicacion said.

Only two programming sections beat it for audience:

* In top place was the 13-minute penalty shoot-out in the June 27 semi-final in which an average 18.141 million people saw Spain beat Portugal to reach the final;

* And in second place was the 30 minutes of extra-time from the same match against Portugal, seen by 16.485 million people.

On Sunday, 22 million Italians watched their side lose in the final, official data released yesterday showed.

Viewing figures of 22,470,000 people were however down from the semi-final in which Italy caused a surprise in beating Germany 2-1 which was watched by 23,255,000 people.

The match shown on the main public channel Rai Uno had an audience share of 81.66 per cent.