German Soccer Kicks ‘Dancing’ to Record Low Ratings

COLOGNE, Germany – Live soccer, again, proved it remains the undisputed ratings champ of German TV.

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Nearly 10 million viewers tuned in to watch Wednesday night’s broadcast of the German Cup semifinal between Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach, more than double the audience for the evening’s second place show, the local version of reality format Dancing With The Stars.

9.93 million viewers, a 32.8 percent share, watched Bayern beat Borussia on public channel ARD while just 4.7 million – a share of less than 15 percent – watched RTL’s Let’s Dance. In RTL’s core 14-49 demographic, Let’s Dance hit an all-time low, with a 14.5 percent share and 1.88 million viewers. Around 31 percent of the 14-49s caught ARD’s soccer match.

The top U.S. show of the night was TNT’s crime drama Rizzoli & Isles, which drew 2.1 million viewers, a 6.5 percent share, on RTL’s sister channel VOX.