Euro 2012: Age of the rising TV audience – despite England exit | Louise Taylor

The interest of TV viewers in the Euro 2012 fortunes of countries other than England has been a welcome feature

As Roy Hodgson and his England players begin the process of analysing precisely where their Euro 2012 campaign went wrong, executives at BBC and ITV are celebrating unexpectedly excellent tournament viewing figures.

England's quarter-final defeat to Italy on penalties on Sunday attracted 20.3m BBC viewers, representing an impressive 67.8% share of the domestic audience. Significantly no game during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was watched by as many people in the UK. Indeed no tournament fixture has proved as popular since England's quarter-final defeat to Portugal, also on penalties, during Euro 2004.

Interest has been far from confined to Hodgson's team. Of the other quarter-finals, Spain v France attracted a healthy 8.8m, Portugal v Czech Republic 8.7m and the potentially dramatic, politically resonant, Germany v Greece clash 8.2m.

Louisa Fyans, head of marketing and communications at BBC Sport, believes there are several reasons behind this antidote to parochialism. "People have been interested in watching the other teams because it's turned out to be a high quality tournament, the football's been very good," she said. "Viewers know several of the players from other countries as they see them regularly in the Premier League. They are perhaps more interested in Europe and European football than in the past – and they began watching this tournament with relatively modest expectations about England."

If the growth of low-cost flights to the continent and its myriad football grounds is partly responsible for this "Europeanisation" of the British football fan, Niall Sloane, ITV's controller of sport, whose channel has shared coverage with the BBC, cites an even more powerful force for change.

"I think the internet's had a lot to do with it," he said. "In the past you would have to buy a specialist publication if you were interested in finding out about these teams and their players, now it is very easy to use the internet to become immensely knowledgeable about them."

While such knowledge invariably spikes interest – and viewing figures – they are arguably fuelled further by multi-channel coverage of the Champions and Europa Leagues.

Then there are the wider social trends, including the recent surge in immigration to the UK from Europe, and eastern Europe especially. Less tangible, but still pertinent, is the desire of British people to become more "European". If our weather dictates that a continental-style cafe society does not really work here – or at least not in the north – more sophisticated football is easily accessible and über-cool.

"I think the phenomenon of rising audience figures has been around from about Euro 96," said Sloane, who previously worked for the BBC. "I first noticed it during the World Cup in France in 1998 when figures were consistently higher than predictions."

Euro 2012 suggests this trend is now accelerating, which arguably has something to do with its relative rarity value. "The Jubilee was huge," said Sloane, who has been delighted by the refreshingly "honest", high-calibre performances of ITV pundits including Jamie Carragher, Roberto Martínez and Roy Keane. "But there's little else that binds people together today like the shared experience of watching a football tournament on television."

Certainly in a time of economic austerity when people live increasingly isolated lives, the Jubilee's success seemed to reflect a general desire to reconnect, something made further possible by Euro 2012. "Even though most people didn't think England could win it, this tournament has been a great way for people to come together," said Sloane. "And once you start supporting England I think it's natural for your interest to spread out to other countries."

It helps that the play – and not just that inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo and Andrea Pirlo – has generally been of superior quality. The screening of games at domestically audience friendly times is another factor but it does not reflect a bigger picture which suggests that, in a football context at least, that species known as "Little Englanders" appear on the wane. Read More