European Indoors in Birmingham the “Most watched ever”

Final
data on television viewing audiences, from the European Athletics Indoor
Championships in

Birmingham
in March, have been received by European Athletics, the results of which make
the event the most watched European Athletics Indoor Championships ever!

The number of hours broadcast from the Championships, has risen dramatically
over the past three editions going from 186 hours in Vienna 2002, to 206 hours
in Madrid 2005, to a staggering 262 hours in

Birmingham in March 2007.

In line with this, the total audience figures, including all programs and in
spite of a major shift in television viewing habits across the board over the
past few years, has risen from 180 million in Madrid 2005 to 194 million in

Birmingham this year.

Speaking on receipt of the figures, Christian Milz, Director General of
European Athletics said:

“We are delighted to receive these figures and to know that the popularity of
the sport and the attractiveness of the sport continues to grow right across
Europe”

“We had a full and noisy stadium for the majority of the Championships, a
revival in the fortunes of a number of important countries and to top this off,
these fantastic viewing figures, support what our President, Hansj rg Wirz
declared were the best ever European Indoor Championships.”

In
Europe, action from the competition was
broadcast in 28 EBU territories by over 60 broadcasters including Eurosport,
which is broadcast in 54 European countries and has a potential reach of over
300 million households.

Outside of
Europe, 6 broadcasters showed
footage of the event including the Dubai Sport Channel, TBS Japan, DD Sports
India and Eurosport Asia amongst other.

The above figures have been put together from data provided by research companies
TNS and IFM as well as information from IEC in Sport.