German TV ratings slump as World Cup opener draws 70% audience

On June 14, 2026, the opening match of the FIFA World Cup between Germany and Curaçao dominated German television. Das Erste’s live broadcast attracted 23.43 million viewers, securing a 70.2 % market share and reaching 8.44 million viewers aged 14‑49 (81.5 % of that demographic).

Other channels saw modest audiences. VOX aired reruns of the garden‑soap “Ab ins Beet!” during the match, drawing 0.41 million viewers (2.0 % share) before falling to 0.26 million (0.8 % share) after kickoff. ZDF’s “Rosamunde Pilcher” attracted 2.05 million viewers (6.4 % share). RTL ZWEI, ProSieben, Sat.1, and other stations garnered between 0.5 million and 0.9 million viewers, with market shares ranging from 0.3 % to 2.1 %. The private channel VOX’s “Hot oder Schrott – Promi Special” achieved a 2.7 % share with 0.63 million viewers, providing the only private‑channel primetime win. Overall, the World Cup opening match captured the vast majority of the German television audience, sharply reducing viewership for competing programmes.