Socceroos quarter-final attracts record TV viewers

Australia’s victory over China in the Quarter-finals of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 on Thursday attracted the largest TV audience for a football match in China in recent years, with an average audience totalling 27 million watching events on CCTV-5.

With a crowd of 46,067 inside Brisbane Stadium as Australia posted a 2-0 win thanks to two goals from Tim Cahill, the peak viewership reached 32 million on CCTV-5.

The total reach, meaning the number of people who watched the quarter-final at any time, was 76 million on CCTV-5, with the total reach – including regional broadcasters –  hitting 95 million.

The average audience on CCTV-5 exceeded the previous record of 23 million, which was set for the second leg of the 2013 AFC Champions League final between China’s Guangzhou Evergrande and Korea Republic’s FC Seoul.

The tournament target of 500,000 attendees has been surpassed with four games to go, with 503,355 spectators attending 28 matches in five host cities in 14 days.

The Socceroos play the United Arab Emiriates in the Semi-Finals of the AFC Asian Cup on Tuesday 27 January with the match to be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports 505 and LIVE on ABC from 8pm AEDT.

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