Television viewing figures for the first eight matches of the European Championship were “absolutely extraordinary”, UEFA said on Wednesday. Figures of 80 percent or more of the market share of viewers – those people actually watching TV while the match was being played – were recorded in Portugal and the Netherlands. Christian Mutschler, the tournament director for the Swiss half of Euro 2008 which is being co-hosted with Austria, told reporters on Wednesday that UEFA was delighted with the figures. “In Portugal we had over 80 percent of the market share with 2.6 million viewers for their opening match against Turkey. In the Netherlands we had a market share of 82.5 percent for their opening game against Italy.” He said that more than 23.7 million viewers in Poland saw their opening game against Germany, equivalent to a market share of 69.6 percent.” In Austria, 1.5 million viewers tuned in to see their team's opening match against Croatia, reflecting a share of just under 60 percent, while 41.7 percent watched the neutral match between Italy and the Netherlands on Monday, the highest figures of the day for state broadcasting channel ORF. In comparison, the Swiss figure of 2.0 million viewers for their opener against Czech Republic reflected a share of over 70 percent, while 1.1 million (57.8 percent) watched the Netherlands-Italy game, higher than any neutral match watched by the Swiss at Euro 2004 apart from the final. Viewing figures generally across Europe of “neutral matches” were also impressively high, illustrated by the 14.9 million viewers in Germany who watched the match between the Netherlands and Italy. That reflected 49.9 percent of the TV audience, higher than any neutral match watched in the group stage of Euro 2004 according to UEFA figures. One television territory where the figures bucked the trend was Britain. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all failed to qualify for the finals and their absence was reflected in the first viewing figures from Britain. – Reuters __
