ZDF loses 400,000 viewers for Germany‑Paraguay World Cup match

Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF saw its audience for the World Cup round‑of‑16 match against Paraguay revised down by 400,000 viewers after the industry introduced a new rating method that adds live‑stream and time‑shifted viewing to the final count. The initial figures had been overly optimistic, and a complete re‑calculation by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Videoforschung corrected the over‑estimate.

Because the match went to extra time and a penalty shoot‑out, the broadcast ran late into the night, causing many fans to drop out. The revised average audience was 17.44 million, down from the previously reported 17.57 million, with at least 130,000 viewers leaving before the end.