A total of 24.4 million Brits catch the England-Colombia penalty thriller, while 12.5 million in France cheer on Les Bleus to a 4-3 victory over Argentina.
Despite fears that the 2018 Soccer World Cup in Russia would be overshadowed by controversy and scandal, sport has triumphed, with a series of on-field upsets and surprises dominating coverage of this year's tournament.
The focus on "the beautiful game" has helped the World Cup in the ratings, with matches drawing record audiences in several territories, including France and the U.K., whose teams still hold out hope of being crowned 2018 champions.
A jaw-dropping 24.4 million people in the U.K. watched England defeat Colombia in a penalty shoot-out Tuesday night to go through to the quarterfinals, accounting for an 81 percent share of the total viewing public. On average, 16.5 million, or a 69 percent share, caught the second-round match on commercial network ITV, which also reported it had 3.3 million simulcast requests for its live online stream of the match, a record for the network's VOD service ITVHub. With World Cup fever only building in Britain, those figures could easily be topped in further knock-out rounds, especially if the Three Lions continue their winning streak.
The same can be said for France, where 15.4 million viewers watched Les Bleus defeat Lionel Messi and his Argentine squad 4-3 in one of the most exciting matches of the World Cup to date. An average 12.5 million watched on commercial network TF1, for a 72.1 percent share. The game was the most-watched television program so far this year in France, a record that looks likely to fall as soon as the French national team takes the field again in the quarterfinals Friday against Uruguay.
Belgium — whose 3-2 win over Japan on Monday, in literally the last kick of the match, put them through to a do-or-die game against Brazil in the quarterfinals — saw both halves of the country united in support of the Red Devils. More than a third of Belgium's entire population of 11 million caught the game, with 2.19 million watching on Flemish network VRT and 1.52 million more on French-language broadcaster La Une. While Brazil is heavily tipped to win the head-to-head Friday, the match is certain to dominate ratings in Belgium.
Far away in Japan, fans of the Samurai Blue turned out in force to face the most crushing defeat of the tournament. Despite the unfavorable timing of the match — which wrapped up at 3 a.m. for viewers in Tokyo — public network NHK scored an average 30.8 percent share, jumping to a maximum of 42.6 percent.
Ratings elsewhere in Europe have dipped following the early exits of once-favored teams, including Germany and Spain, but ratings overall have been strong. A total of 12.5 million in Germany watched England versus Colombia on German public broadcaster ARD, an impressive 45 percent share, while 6.7 million, or 42.2 percent of the viewing audience, caught the game on Mediaset in Spain.