Sky Italia posts record ratings as Inter fall at last Europa League hurdle

Friday’s Uefa Europa League final between Sevilla and Inter Milan attracted record viewing figures in Italy as pay-television broadcaster Sky Italia netted strong figures on its subscription and free-to-air channels.

Sky aired the match on subscription channels Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Football and Sky Sport 251, pulling in an average audience of 1.56 million viewers.

The pay-television broadcaster’s audience for Sevilla’s 3-2 win over the Serie A side outstripped its figure of 1.29 million viewers for last season’s Europa League final between Chelsea and Arsenal.

Free-to-air coverage of Friday evening’s final played behind closed doors in Cologne, Germany generated an average of 4.24 million viewers on Sky Italia’s TV8 channel. TV8’s audience was equal to a market share of 22.7 per cent.

The combined figures make the final the most viewed football match shown by Sky Italia and also simulcast on TV8.

In Spain, live coverage on the Telefónica Movistar Liga de Campeones subscription channel registered an average audience of 643,000 viewers (and a 6.2-per-cent share).

Free-to-air coverage on German commercial broadcaster RTL pulled in an average audience of 2.7 million viewers (a 12-per-cent share). The figure fell well short of RTL’s average of 4.2 million viewers for last season’s final.

In France, the final was shown by Altice-owned subscription channel RMC Sport 1 and also showcased on the free-to-air RMC Story channel, which netted an average of 1.07 million viewers (and 6-per-cent share).

RMC Sport also broadcast Sunday’s Uefa Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, a match that registered an average audience of 11.4 million viewers (and 46.2-per-cent market share) on French commercial broadcaster TF1.