France's TF1 Draws Record Viewers for Women's Soccer World Cup

(Bloomberg) -- French free-to-air broadcaster TF1 drew an unprecedented number of viewers for a female soccer world cup when the tournament kicked off in Paris on Friday.

About 9.8 million people watched the hosts beat South Korea 4-0, an “historic record” for this type of competition, TF1 tweeted on Saturday. The broadcaster enjoyed a 44% viewing market share and the audience peaked at 10.9 million, it said.

“We’re happy to see the popularity of soccer growing year after year among a female audience. As passionate viewers, women have now become committed players in soccer,” Gilles Pelisson, chief executive officer of TF1 said in a LinkedIn post on Friday. “This is a high-level competition which is finally getting a strong and legitimate” recognition, he added.

TF1, a unit of conglomerate Bouygues SA, is broadcasting a total of 25 games in the competition, which runs until July 7.

Vivendi SA’s pay-TV Canal+ drew more than 800,000 soccer fans, bringing the total to 10.6 million viewers for the country’s broadcasters, Pure Medias said, citing data from TV viewing tracking consultancy Mediametrie. TF1 got 12.6 million viewers for France’s opening game at last year’s mens’ World Cup in Russia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angelina Rascouet in Paris at arascouet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Amott at jamott@bloomberg.net, John Bowker, Jon Menon

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