An average of 10.04 million viewers tuned in to ZDF according to AGF/GfK data to watch the first World Cup match on Thursday evening. The match between Mexico and South Africa, which provided plenty of talking points with two goals for one of the World Cup hosts and no fewer than three red cards, achieved a market share of 46.5 percent among the total audience. Among 14- to 59-year-olds, it climbed to 57.7 percent, and in the particularly coveted age group of 14- to 49-year-olds, it even reached 65.6 percent.
For ZDF, these are numbers that should satisfy the team in Mainz - especially since the comparison with previous tournaments shows how strong Thursday evening actually was. At the 2021 European Championship, the opening match according to "DWDL" narrowly missed the ten million mark. The 2022 Winter World Cup in Qatar - already a difficult case in this country due to the unusual November date - only brought in 6.21 million viewers at the opening. And the 2024 home European Championship with German participation at the opening was naturally a special case.
The "heute-journal" Beats the World Cup
Halftime provided a remarkable curiosity: The brief "heute-journal" reached an average of 10.49 million viewers - and was thus, according to preliminary data, formally the most-watched program segment of the day, even ahead of the match itself. An indication that viewership continued to increase during the course of the match and that the audience reached its peak at halftime.
ZDF started its World Cup coverage long before kickoff. From 5:15 p.m., pre-match coverage aired, which according to "DWDL" attracted an average of 1.88 million viewers until 7 p.m. - a market share of 16.3 percent. Between 7:28 p.m. and 8:38 p.m., shortly before and during the warm-up phase, there were already 5.16 million people and a 25.5 percent market share. Even after the final whistle, the World Cup momentum didn't stop. The post-match coverage from 11:09 p.m. was still watched by 3.8 million - with a remarkable 33.9 percent market share overall and 50.1 percent among 14- to 49-year-olds.
One factor remains open in the overall assessment, however: how many viewers tuned in to MagentaTV in parallel. Telekom is broadcasting more matches exclusively at this World Cup than ever before and is the only provider showing all 104 matches of the tournament. Since independently measured, comparable ratings for MagentaTV are not available, the actual total reach of the opening match cannot be conclusively quantified.
For its comprehensive coverage, the broadcaster has assembled a star lineup. In addition to Thomas Müller, Robert Andrich and Jonas Hofmann are among the professional players on the expert team. In addition, Mats Hummels, Jürgen Klopp, Tabea Kemme, Micky Beisenherz and fan expert Tom Kaulitz are also among the big names involved. The program is hosted by Johannes B. Kerner and Laura Wontorra.
