More than eight million viewers watched the match that brought Juventus and Milan to the Italian Cup semi-final Friday evening on "Ray Uno" channel, to be the highest viewing percentage for this season's soccer match in the country, according to local press reports on Saturday.
This was the first match in Italy since the suspension of all football competitions on 9 March due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus.
When Italian Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora gave the green light to resume football, he stressed that the remaining matches of the Cup competition be launched, because they are broadcasted for free on television, and therefore more people will be able to watch them.
Don Cristiano Ronaldo, after a 3-month hiatus, returns to play today against AC Milan Cup, and he wastes a penalty for Juventus! pic.twitter.com/3a08zVxwKl
- Screen Mix (@ScreenMix) June 12, 2020
Nearly 8.3 million viewers watched the match - which ended in a goalless draw between Juventus and its guest Milan and crossed its first impact to the final (1-1 back) - on Ray Uno, the main channel of the Ray group, which is approximately 34% of the total The percentage of viewers on Italian channels at the same time.
This is the highest rate this season for any football match in Italy after two cup semi-final matches between "Old Lady" and "Rossoneri" (8.09 million), and Inter Milan with Napoli (6.8 million), which were also broadcast by "Ray Ono".
As for the national team - whose matches broadcast the same channel - 7.4 million viewers watched the Azzurri's match with Bosnia in the European Cup 2020 qualifiers in June 2019, which achieved the highest viewership last season.