Telecinco Hits Most Watched Moment in Spanish TV History With Euro 2012 Soccer Match

MADRID - Spain's Telecinco posted the most watched moment in the history of Spanish television Monday night as the Spanish national soccer team skimmed its way into the quarterfinals of the Euro 2012 soccer championships with nearly 18.14 viewers watching the final moment of the match that finished 1-0 against Croatia.

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The 78.2 percent share and the viewing numbers outranked even the 90-minute match of the final of the 2010 World Cup, which Spain won against Holland.

Monday night's overall figures with an average of 14.2 million viewers and audience share of 70.4 percents still sits behind penalty kicks in the quarterfinals against Italy of the 2008 Euro Cup with 15.3 million viewers, the overtime of the 2010 World Cup final match (14.8 million viewers) and the final game of the Euro Cup 2008 against Germany (14.5 million).

World Champions Spain are also the defending champions at the Euro Cup and will next play Saturday night in the quarterfinals. Box office figures from last weekend's match were affected by Spain's Sunday match, with earnings dropping 50% to 600,000 tickets for the weekend of June 8, 9 and 10, with 4 million euros.

Soccer-crazed Spain has seen the Euro Cup and Spain's success directly affect the box office. According to Rentrak, Spanish box office plummeted from  61,030 admissions last Monday to 36,835 this Monday night.

"The Euro Cup doesn't affect overall, it's mostly just when the Spanish team plays," explained Rentrak's David Rodriguez.