At 1:30 a.m., it was sealed: the equally dramatic and controversial exit of the German national team at the World Cup in Mexico, Canada, and the USA. With a 3-4 loss in the penalty shootout, the team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann (38) was defeated by Paraguay. Already in the round of sixteen, the dream of winning the World Cup was over.
At least it wasn't due to a lack of support from the local audience. Despite the late kickoff time of 10:30 p.m. on a Monday evening, ZDF alone recorded outstanding ratings, as determined by AGF Videoforschung. In the total audience, around 17.6 million viewers tuned in. This corresponded to a strong market share of 74.5 percent.
In the advertising-relevant age group of 14- to 49-year-olds, the market share even amounted to around 79 percent. Nearly 6.2 million people were measured here on average.
Too disappointed to go to bed?
But the numbers that are particularly telling: Although the drama dragged on deep into the night, many viewers were apparently too frustrated to go straight to bed. And so many still watched the post-game analysis of the debacle, in which ZDF experts Per Mertesacker, Christian Streich, and Christoph Kramer, among others, searched for answers to the elimination.
About 3.7 million people therefore remained sitting in front of the television after the end of the game to hear the analysis. In the target audience, there were still nearly one million people.
While the World Cup dream is already over for Germany, the fairy tale continues unabated for Paraguay. However, a huge challenge likely awaits them in the round of sixteen: their opponent will be either Sweden or World Cup co-favorite France. The match takes place on July 4 starting at 11:00 p.m. - a date that many German fans will probably frustratedly cross out of their calendars.
