News06 Dec 2010


368 million watch Barcelona European Champs on TV

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Bringing down the house in Barcelona - Nuria Fernandez takes the European 1500m title (© Getty Images)

A total television audience of 368 million watched the Barcelona 2010 European Athletic s Championships this summer, underlining the continued popularity of European Athletics’ flagship event.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed in its report to European Athletics that the cumulative figure (excluding news audiences) was higher than for the Göteborg 2006 European Athletics Championships.

Göteborg 2006 had a total audience of 340 million over the seven days of the championships, with Barcelona 2010 beating that figure despite the competition being one day shorter.

Seventy-six sports broadcasters produced 1583 hours of coverage for this summer’s European Athletics Championships. There were 1425 broadcasting hours for the previous edition.

European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz said, “These excellent TV figures show the continued importance of our sport on the continent and underline the demand for a European Athletics Championships to be staged every two years.”

Helsinki hosts the next European Athletics Championships between 27 June and 1 July in 2012, with Zurich the hosts in 2014.

“Following on from our success in Barcelona and with the exciting prospect of these events in the future, European Athletics and EBU are very close to agreeing on continuing our long-standing partnership to ensure athletics remains on free-to-air television,” said Wirz.

European Athletics

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