News & Blog

Read the latest business news, blogs and thought leadership articles from our members, as well as updates on the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce's work in the city.

News & Blog

Euro 2024 is STV Player’s most-watched sporting event of all time

Posted: 16th July 2024

The 2024 UEFA European Championships was a tournament for the history books – and not just because Spain became the first team to win it four times.

STV Player today announces that Euro 2024 was the streamer’s most-viewed sporting event of all time, in terms of hours watched. Football fans streamed a staggering 2,263,000 hours of the tournament from its launch on 14 June through to Sunday night’s gripping final – up on the 2,166,000 hours that were watched during the 2022 World Cup.

The Euros match with the most live streams was the semi-final clash between England and the Netherlands, which generated 618,000 streams on 10 July. For comparison, the most-streamed game of Euro 2020 (the England v Denmark semi-final) received 494,000 streams.

On STV’s broadcast channel, the most-watched match of the tournament was the Scotland v Germany opener on 14 June, which had an average audience of 1.21 million viewers and delivered the highest-ever opening game audience across a Euro competition on any channel. The match peaked at 1.38 million in the 45th minute when Scotland’s Ryan Porteous was handed a red card for a foul on German midfielder, İlkay Gündoğan.

The second and third most-watched games on STV were the England v Netherlands semi-final (1.16m) and England’s last 16 match against Slovakia (857k).

Most-watched matches on STV (channel)

  • 14 June: Scotland v Germany – 1.21 million
  • 10 July: England v Netherlands – 1.16 million
  • 30 June: England v Slovakia – 857,000

Most-streamed matches on STV Player

  • 10 July: England v Netherlands – 618,000
  • 30 June: England v Slovakia – 531,000
  • 14 June: Scotland v Germany – 524,000

Richard Williams, Manging Director of Digital at STV, said: “Fans have increasingly chosen to stream major tournaments on STV Player in recent years and it’s testament to changing viewer habits and our ever-improving digital experience that Euro 2024 has become our most-watched sporting event of all time.

“These record-breaking figures show that Scotland loves getting together for an international football tournament – despite the Tartan Army’s disappointingly short trip to Germany. Whether they watched on the channel or Player, we’re delighted that so many Scots chose to spend this historic tournament with STV.”

Business Comment

Business Comment is the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce’s bi-monthly magazine. It provides insight on Edinburgh’s vibrant business community, with features on the city’s key sectors, interviews with leading figures and news on new business developments in the capital.
Read more here