PSG’s late victory against Girona did not excite the crowds on Canal+, which achieved a timid audience compared to PSG’s first match in the Champions League last season.
The Canal group has bought the rights to all European football cups for the next three seasons, including all matches of the new 36-club Champions League format. On Wednesday evening, the match PSG/Girona (1-0) achieved a timid audience with 1.34 million viewers on average for the eveningrepresenting a general audience share of 7.4%.
For comparison, PSG’s first Champions League match last season, against Dortmund, attracted an average of 2.18 million viewers on Canal+ and Canal+ Foot. The PSG/Girona match therefore attracted less of a general audience, but still allowed Canal+ to achieve a much higher audience than the previous day for Sporting CP/Lille.
PSG/Girona had three times the audience of Sporting/Lille
The Dogues’ 2-0 defeat against the Portuguese only attracted an average of 456,000 Canal+ subscribers on Tuesday evening, an audience three times lower than that of PSG/Girona. The encrypted channel will broadcast two other French club matches in the Champions League this Thursday: Monaco/Barcelona at 9pm on Canal+ Foot and Brest/Sturm Graz at 9pm on Canal+ Sport 360.
There is no doubt that PSG’s next Champions League match against Arsenal (October 1) will achieve a much higher audience than that of this first day against Girona, a playful team that is pleasant to watch, but which still suffers from a lack of notoriety among the general French public.
