12 million viewers for Paraguay-France, historic record on M6

The World Cup round-of-16 match between Paraguay and France attracted 12.17 million viewers on M6 during the night of Saturday to Sunday, according to Médiamétrie figures. The channel described it as a « historic audience record » for the encounter, which allowed France to qualify for the quarter-finals.

The performance is all the more remarkable given that the match kicked off at 11 p.m. By comparison, the group-stage match against Iraq, which started at the same time, had drawn just under 5 million viewers.

Demographic figures confirm the scale of the phenomenon: 75.6% of the audience aged 4 and over followed the match, as did 79.4% of women responsible for household purchases under 50 years old. Among 25-49 year-olds, the audience share reached 87%, and 91% among 15-34 year-olds.

Despite this exceptional score, the absolute record of this World Cup remains held by France’s opening match. The victory over Senegal (3-1), played on June 16, had drawn nearly 14 million viewers for an audience share of 61.4%.

This ceiling could be broken as early as Thursday evening. On July 9 at 10 p.m., Didier Deschamps’ side face Morocco in the quarter-finals, with a place in the semi-finals at stake.