The first match of the French team in the World Cup, France/Australia (4-1), gathered 12.53 million viewers, for an audience share of 48.1%, Tuesday, November 22, from 8 p.m. on TF1. While the World Cup in Qatar had been the subject of boycott calls before its start, the performance in terms of the number of viewers is comparable to that of the first match of the French team at the 2018 World Cup. At the time, the match, organized on a Saturday at 12 p.m., against Australia, attracted 12.6 million people for a share of 69%.
Best audience since June 2021, all channels combined, France / Australia also won “ record levels on all targets,” Tuesday November 22, argues TF1. Alongside the FRDA-50 whose views reached 52.1%, the 4-14 year olds jumped to 73%, the 15-34 year olds to 69%, the 25-49 year olds to 61% while men aged 25-49 years was 69%.
Apart from TF1, the only channel to broadcast World Cup matches free-to-air in France, the competition is broadcast in its entirety on paid TV on beIN Sports, which does not appear in the daily Médiamat, and, at this stage, did not communicate the score of the France/Australia broadcast.