We can’t predict the weather but we are certain that summer 2024 will be memorable for sports fans across the world. From Wimbledon to the Olympics, via the Men’s T20 cricket World Cup and the US Open, there’s something for everyone.
An upcoming highlight calendar is the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championships. Kicking off in Munich, Germany on June 14th, football fans across the continent are gearing up for a month-long celebration of the best of the beautiful game.
Using CintSnap – a way to survey individuals and understand opinions quickly – we conducted a poll with approximately 300 UK respondents, gauging pre-tournament anticipation in the United Kingdom before the first ball has been kicked.
Football is no longer the sole preserve of people able to spend their Saturday afternoons standing on the terraces. Not just a smorgasbord of exciting matches, a major international football tournament is a TV highlight for broadcasters. With that in mind, we set out to discover:
- The viewing habits of football fans
- How much of the tournament they plan on watching
- Preferred broadcaster
- Where they’ll be watching Euro 2024
Despite England and Scotland being the only UK teams to qualify for the event, 70% of people surveyed in the UK said they were extremely likely or likely to tune into the tournament.
And with 51 games taking place over the span of four weeks, there is a lot of football to be watched. Nearly half those surveyed (47%) are currently planning on taking in as many games as possible, soaking up every contested offside decision, 25 yard wondergoal, and heartstopping – and possibly heartbreaking – penalty shoot out.
The minimal time difference between the UK and host nation Germany makes things easier for those determined to glue themselves to the action throughout the tournament.
1 in 5 people plan on solely watching the matches that feature their home nation in action while 15% of people will be watching occasional games.
Watching the goals go by
Football fans are gravitating toward their TV sets, with just 10% of respondents looking to open up their laptops or phones and cheer on their team via BBC iPlayer (8%) or ITVPlayer (2%). Linear TV leads the way, with watching the games as televised live on either the BBC or ITV being the preferred choice for 61% of people surveyed. A lucky 6% of people will be watching games played out at the 10 stadiums across Germany.
UK TV viewing figures for Euro 2020 – a cross-continental edition of the tournament which culminated in England losing on penalties to Italy in front of a crowd of 67,000 people at Wembley Stadium – were colossal, with a peak of 30.95 million people tuning in across the BBC and ITVs coverage of the final. This eclipsed the Portugal vs France Euro 2016 finale by 17.35 million viewers.
Will Euro 2024 hit record-breaking viewership?
Taking sides
Viewers in the UK have the choice between two free-to-air options, with the BBC and its commercial rival ITV having been granted exclusive broadcasting rights for the tournament until at least 2028 spanning both broadcaster’s linear and streaming services.
Of those surveyed, 44% indicated that they’ll gravitate towards the BBC’s overall coverage with ITV taking 18% of the share. Not everyone is as fixed in their preferences: a further 18% of people Cint polled said that they’d be watching televised ties across both broadcasters.
The BBC’s dominance continues when it comes to engaging with the competition’s final on 14th July. Both broadcasters will be showing the game live but just under half (46%) of those surveyed will be watching the match on the BBC with 21% electing to tune into ITV .
When it comes to deciding which broadcaster to pledge sporting allegiance to, our CintSnap polling shows that advertising plays an important role. More specifically, a lack of adverts is the most important deciding factor for 40% of those surveyed.
Given the financial significance of in-tournament advertising to networks like ITV – it has been reported that Euro 2020 gave them a huge boost in revenue from advertisers – this could be seen as bad news for the BBC’s rivals. In a happier turn of events for ITV, 16% of respondents would pick coverage based on advertising.
Other key decision makers included the general tournament presentation (32%) as well as the specific commentary teams available to each broadcaster (28%) and the in-studio (and occasionally on-pitch) pundits (19%).
No one likes thinking about the possibility of seeing their team board a plane home while there’s still football to be played, but 60% of respondents are extremely likely or likely to continue watching the tournament even if their team fails to make it past the group stages, while around a quarter of those surveyed will be severing ties with Euro 2024 the second the jig’s up for the team they support.
Conclusion
Will you be sneaking out of work early to watch Denmark vs England or having friends over for Scotland vs Switzerland? Is Gary Linekar your go-to anchorman or do you prefer Mark Pougatch? Join the conversation on the Cint LinkedIn page.
Methodology
A ‘CintSnap’ is a snapshot into the minds of general consumers. The data featured was pulled using the Cint platform and leverages Cint’s programmatic research tech. A census demographic of approximately 300 United Kingdom consumers was surveyed for each question within a 3 hour window on the 29th of May, 2024.
Cint’s research technology helps our customers to post questions and get answers from real people, in real time – and to use these insights to build business strategies, publish research, and accurately measure the impact of advertising efforts. Find out more here.
