A little earlier, the opening ceremony of the competition had been watched on TF1 by nearly 4.2 million viewers.
More than 5 million viewers followed Sunday from 5:00 p.m. on TF1 the opening match of the 2022 World Cup between the host country, Qatar, and Ecuador, according to figures from Médiamétrie published on Monday. While the World Cup in Qatar had been the subject of calls for a boycott before its start, this audience is higher than that of the opening match of the 2018 World Cup (Russia-Saudi Arabia), which had gathered just under 4 million viewers on TF1. Four years ago, however, the opening match took place during the week (a Thursday at 5:00 p.m.) and not at the weekend.
“Huge success for the launch“of the World Cup, “a marked increase compared to 2018“welcomed TF1 on Twitter. The channel is the only one in France to broadcast this World Cup in clear, also broadcast on beIN Sports for a fee. With this match, won by Ecuador 2-0 against the host country, TF1 achieved more than 31% of audience share. Before the meeting, the opening ceremony of the competition, broadcast from around 3:30 p.m. to 4:10 p.m., had been watched on TF1 by nearly 4.2 million viewers (29.4% audience share). The France team will enter the competition on Tuesday (8:00 p.m.) against Australia.
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Since the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar in December 2010, the competition has sparked much controversy, even calls for a boycott, on subjects such as respect for human rights or the protection of the environment.
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