UEFA Euro 2020 sees 25 million football fans tune into TV for first 20 matches

That was not enough to secure victory, however, as Ivan Perisic's superb leveller shortly after the break gave Croatia renewed hope of making it through.

The ongoing Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Euro 2020 which was delayed due to coronavirus, is seeing many Indian football fans tune into TV to watch the league.

The tournament which was originally scheduled last year was postponed to 2021 between June and July 12.

For the first 20 matches held between June 12-18, UEFA Euro 2020 recorded 25 million viewers on TV, according to data shared by Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), a television audience measurement service.

Read: Euro 2020 group stage is over, relive all the action with these pictures

BARC's data further points out that the total viewing minutes registered by UEFA Euro 2020 is 173 percent higher as compared to the 2016 league.

While the league in 2016 had registered 1.25 billion total viewing minutes, Euro 2020 recorded 3.41 billion total viewing minutes.

In addition, UEFA Euro 2020's cumulative reach per match increased by 46 percent over 2016 from 2.94 million per match in 2016 to 4.30 million per match in 2021.

The official broadcaster of the league, Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN) noted that the most watched game so far has been the match between Hungary versus Portugal, which was watched by 8.5 million viewers. And the second most watched game was the match between Denmark versus Belgium which recorded 7.5 million viewers.

When it comes to markets that are leading in terms of viewership for UEFA Euro 2020, Assam/North East has the highest viewership share. No surprises here. It was followed by Kerala, West Bengal and Maharashtra/Goa.

Assam/North East recorded a viewership share of 37.7 percent, whereas Kerala came second with a share of 28.4 percent. Coming close to Kerala is West Bengal with a share of 19.3 percent. And a distant fourth is Maharashtra/Goa with a share of four percent.

On Sony's sports channels, the Hindi feed for the live matches has been watched by close to 12 million viewers so far, the broadcaster said in a statement. When it comes to regional feed, Malayalam and Bengali feed for the live matches has been watched by close to six million viewers on Sony Six.

The league which has 51 games over a period of 30 days will see its finals happening on July 12.