World Cup television coverage breaks viewing records: FIFA

The first group matches of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil have broken television-viewing records in countries around the world, according to FIFA.

German forward Thomas Mueller celebrating after scoring. (AAP)

As many as 34.1 million viewers in Japan watched the team’s 2-1 defeat by the Ivorians on the NHK channel at 10 a.m. local time, while 42.9 million in Brazil saw the hosts beat Croatia 3-1 in the tournament’s opener on TV Globo.

The match between the US and Ghana was watched by 11.1 million on ESPN in the United States, setting a new record for ESPN coverage of a men’s World Cup match.

“These record-breaking figures show just how popular football and the FIFA World Cup is across the world, from Japan to Argentina,” said FIFA TV director Niclas Ericson.

“We are seeing highly encouraging growth in interest in markets such as the United States and Australia."

England’s 2-1 defeat by Italy in the Amazon city of Manaus attracted 14.2 million on BBC 1 in the UK and 12.8 million on RAI 1, the highest TV audiences in both countries in 2014.

Germany's ARD channel had 26.4 million watching the country's 4-0 win over Portugal.

In Australia, 2.8 million people tuned in to the Australia v Chile match on SBS.