ESPN's Euro 2012 Ratings Up 63 Percent Over 2008

COLOGNE, Germany -- European soccer continues to score for U.S. sports network ESPN, as nearly 3 million viewers tuned in to watch Italy defeat England in a quarterfinal penalty shoot-out of the Euro 2012 soccer championships.

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The audience figure of 2.968 million was the high-water mark for the tournament so far on ESPN and topped the ratings for all matches from the last Euro tournament in 2008, except for the 2008 Germany vs. Spain final, which attracted 3.76 million U.S. viewers on ABC.

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The four Euro 2012 quarterfinals drew an average of 1.463 million households and 1.918 million viewers for ESPN, a jump of 31 percent in both categories compared to the 2008 quarterfinal round.

Over the 28 matches played in the tournament so far, ESPN's English-language service has averaged 1.14 million viewers, a 63 percent jump over 2008.

The Euros have also been a success on Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, with an average of 424,000 Hispanic households watching the England vs. Italy match, beating out the previous record -- for the Euro 2008 final -- of 357,000.