The thrilling PSG-Lyon clash ignites Ligue 1+'s viewership, drawing millions and shattering social media records for the burgeoning new channel.
The Lyon-Paris Saint-Germain match (2-3) from the 12th round of French soccer's Ligue 1 delivered a strong audience Sunday night on the new channel Ligue 1+, a few weeks after the classic rivalry match between Marseille and PSG.
Launched in haste this summer by the French professional soccer league (LFP), the new channel Ligue 1+ continues to gain subscribers and had about 1.08 million at the end of September, according to reports from the sports newspaper L'Equipe. In a statement, the LFP hailed an audience success for the Lyon-PSG match.
According to figures from the LFP, provided by the media measurement company Médiamétrie, the matchup averaged 903,000 viewers and peaked at 1.07 million viewers near the end of the game. It earned a 4.9% share of the television audience among people aged 4 and older, and an 11.3% share among men aged 25-49.
It was the second-best audience of the season for Ligue 1+, behind only the Marseille-PSG game (1-0) on Sept. 22, which averaged 1.2 million viewers with a peak of 1.4 million. The LFP's statement also noted excellent social media performance during the Lyon-PSG match, with more than 37 million impressions, a record for a Ligue 1 matchday this season.
The previous Tuesday, the PSG-Bayern Munich Champions League match gathered 1.67 million viewers on the channel Canal+ Foot. Simultaneously, Canal+ broadcast excerpts of the match via its multiplex service, which itself attracted 735,000 viewers. PSG's largest audience this season was for its Champions League victory at Barcelona on Oct. 1, which attracted 1.88 million viewers on Canal+.