The "This doesn't really fit in anywhere" thread

Nice stuff!!!

The interesting thing is that there is a gap of (only) ~ 4 mio between #1 and #10.

How is this figure computed? What about those thousands who watch the games not at homes/bars but at city squares/ fan miles etc??

Germany's population has remained static for the better part of the last 2-3 decades, so that's not a factor. The reason WC 2002 final has comparatively lower viewership is because of the time gap between Japan and Germany imo.

Surprisingly, the 3rd place game against Portugal is missing form this list. So are the games against England in Euro 96 and Italia 90. So much for the rivalry

 

You won't get much more viewership for a soccer game in Germany than that.

Those are obviously not counted - and not a factor for any tournament before 2006 anyway.

Em, this is a factor. There's an obvious reason why per capita the 1986 and 1990 finals were the most watched by far among those, and few pre-1990s games had a chance. For the games after 1990 not so much, though.

The game was sunday afternoon in Germany. The main reason of the slight difference is probably the much bigger hype in 2006.

 

If this is a 2006 onwards phenomenon, then the numbers are slightly misleading. If the fan mile didn't exist for WC 02 final we have the entire viewership house or pub based. Now many of those attended the fan mile. Its kind of cannibalized into the same share. So is the increase for the post 2006 games is much more substantial?

 

Good point...

 

TV ratings are based on only a few homes anyway. We don't really know how many people watched in 2006 compared to 1990. The real question would be how many of the people who where part of audience measurement that day didn't watch because they were out of home.

And either way - if Germany should reach the final in 2010, I'd expect the game to be less viewed than the 2006 semi-final. The hype back then was huge, and it's not as if there are actually that many soccer fans in Germany.

 

This kind of stat will be changed from now due to the rise of internet match streams, no? So more people can be watching but will not be taken into consideration because it's not tv.

 

So far I doubt that's that much of a factor. If we are talking legal streams, though - those should be much easier to keep track of, actually. Illegal not, of course.

 

Does anybody know when they started measuring viewership? Mid-1980s?

Before 1990, East German homes where not measured which gives an advantage in viewership to post-1990 tournaments. But then again, there were far less tv channels in the 1980s which naturally led to higher viewership figures as people had less choice to watch something else.

 

1960s.

However, the Germany games of the 1990 WC only had a slightly higher market share than the 2006 ones (in West Germany/Germany).

Extensive statistics on WC viewing in Germany:
http://www.media-perspektiven.de/uploads/tx_mppublications/09-2006_Gerhard.pdf

 

I just started reading that article. Found this here:

Gleich am zweiten
Weihnachtsfeiertag, am zweiten Sendetag also, zeigte
das Fernsehprogramm des NWDR am Nachmittag
um 14.15 Uhr eine Fußballübertragung: das
Wiederholungsspiel des Achtelfinals im DFB-Pokal
SF Hamborn 07 gegen FC St. Pauli. (3) Die Übertragung
war allerdings nicht live, sondern eine
Aufzeichnung des Spiels, das kurz vor Weihnachten
stattgefunden hatte.

I wonder if that game is still in the NDR vaults? It would be the rarest game ever from a collector's perspective. A 1952 DFB-Pokal round of sixteen game! Incredible thought...

 

This doesn't belong anywhere else, so I'm posting it here.

There are a group of renowned astrologers who have taken to predict the WC games.

This is the prediction for the Japan Holland game.

http://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/blog_FIFA_World_Cup__South_Africa_World_Cup_Predictions_World_Cup_Matches__Netherlands_Vs_Japan_2532.jsp

So far they've been way off the mark. So keeping that in mind this game is not going to be interesting at all. A true snorefest.

You can see their predictions for the other games of the tournament in the link above. Fun stuff.

 

Prediction for Ghana vs Australia


http://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/blog_FIFA_World_Cup__South_Africa_World_Cup_Predictions_World_Cup_Matches__Ghana_Vs_Australia_2539.jsp

 

Prediction for Cameroon vs Denmark

http://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/blog_FIFA_World_Cup__South_Africa_World_Cup_Predictions_World_Cup_Matches__Cameroon_Vs_Denmark_2538.jsp

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xLn-X8YJRg&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube- Soccer Officially Announces It Is Gay[/ame]

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...tion-on-four-missing-North-Korea-players.html
FIFA insist they have no information on reports that four North Korea players have gone AWOL at the World Cup.

It is rumoured that Myong-Won Kim, Chol-Hyok An, Kyong-Il Kim and Sung-Hyok Pak may have tried to defect and leave the team camp in South Africa.

The players were listed as absent on the official teamsheet for the game with Brazil but FIFA cannot shed any light on the situation.
Communications director Nicolas Maingot said: "We have no information on this ・we have only been contacted on this issue by the media.
"Our media officer with the Korea DPR has said their delegation completely deny these rumours."

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/south-african-vuvuzela-philharmonic-angered-by-soc,17625/

"Members of the South Africa Vuvuzela Philharmonic Orchestra, widely considered to be among the best large-scale monotonic wind instrument ensembles in the world, told reporters Friday they were furious over the recent outbreaks of international soccer matches during their traditional outdoor concerts."


Funny little article on a topic that has been hashed and rehashed. Sorry if this is not the appropriate thread.

 

http://sports.williamhill.com/bet/en-gb/betting/e/740062/Ghana-v-Germany.html
90 Minutes 11/2
Ghana


31/10
Draw

1/2 Germany

 

Has anyone else noticed Maicon's sporadic weeping outbursts???

As a full back, he is probably the best in the world right now, but his crying ( and unnecessarily at that) is making him look rather stupid.

He was first seen weeping when he scored that wonder goal against North Korea. I can understand, that the goal relived him and his team of a lot of pressure and the crying was spontaneous and for a seemingly valid reason.

Next, after Fabiano's second (hand ball) goal against the IC, Maicon is seen crying during the group hug. What is with that????

When Elano scored the 3rd one, putting the game beyond any doubt whatsoever, Maicon was crying yet again. What was the need to? It wasn't a match winning goal. That goal didn't matter at all.

This guy has cried more in this one game than I cried when Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) died in the movie Sholay. And that's saying a lot.

 

I hadn't noticed any crying, are you sure he is?

It might be a bit like Badstuber always looking sleepy.

 

This is his goal against North Korea. I apologize for the poor video quality and the horrible background score. All other videos have been removed by FIFA.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKcY8OPM6uk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKcY8OPM6uk[/ame]
From 0:11 till the end, he is clearly weeping.

This vid is from the game against the IC
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bx3LUfUDW8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bx3LUfUDW8[/ame]
Here too he is almost shedding tears, around the 0:32s mark.

Lol.


Edit: Can we embed non youtube vids with our posts??

 

Football means a lot to Maicon. He probably also got emotional because he wasn't selected, unfairly by the way, for the 2006 squad.