Viewership hit 200,000 during World Cup quarter finals

World Cup viewership hit the 200,000 mark during the quarter finals, extrapolated data by service provider Melita shows.

The highly-anticipated quarter final match between England and France saw a viewership of 135,000.

Melita Limited has created an in-house system to measure audiences, which extrapolates various data sources to calculate the number of viewers, and households watching together. The numbers could well be higher since most popular sports games are often watched in bars or bigger groups.

The tournament now enters its most important phase, with defending champions France taking on Morocco ahead of Sunday’s final. Some 120,000 people tuned in to watch the last Morocco match, which saw Ronaldo’s Portugal kicked out of the competiton.

Messi’s Argentina dismissed a combative Croatia side on Tuesday to score three goals and reach the final of the World Cup.

This will be Argentina’s sixth time in the final of the World Cup, the last time being in 2014 when they lost to Germany. Argentina won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986.

“Local viewers have been very excited about the World Cup as the tournament has thrown up a few surprises with some unexpected countries taking centre stage. We are expecting interest to intensify as we approach the final,” Mireille Muscat, Melita’s Head of Marketing said.