EURO 2016: French people prefer to stay at home and watch football than go out

French television stations have reported soaring viewership numbers during football match coverage, in contrast to the bleak Fan Zone.

According to figures from Puremedias, a French audiovisual market research firm, the number of French viewers watching EURO 2016 is much higher than the number of viewers watching the two most recent major football tournaments, the 2014 World Cup and EURO 2012. Specifically, the opening match between France and Romania on June 10, broadcast on TF1, attracted 14.4 million subscribers.

The French prefer to stay at home and watch football than go out. (illustration: t3.com).

Even matches without France, such as the recent Portugal-Austria match, were watched by 5.6 million TV subscribers. Other matches also attract large audiences, comparable to prime-time TV highlights.

This situation is in stark contrast to the relatively gloomy scene in the fan zones. After 10 days of EURO 2016, the atmosphere in the Fan Zones is not as expected.

At the largest Fan Zone in France, located at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, up to this point, the match that attracted the most spectators was still the opening match between France and Romania, but there were only 40,000 people, less than half of the capacity of 92,000 people in this Fan Zone.

The situation is not better at Fan Zones in other cities such as Marseille, Lille or Lyon...

The reason given is that security concerns are still very high in France, making many fans afraid to go to crowded areas like Fan Zones. This is understandable because Fan Zones are set up in large outdoor areas, making it very difficult to fully control security.

In addition, the weather in France is very erratic at this time, making many fans reluctant to go out. Fan Zones in Lille and Marseille have been closed in the past few days due to heavy rain and strong winds, making the safety of fans uncertain.

These things make French football fans choose to watch EURO on TV at home more, making the football atmosphere of this festival somewhat boring./

According to VOV