Football
ESPN staff 7y

China sets TV record with 70m people tuning in to World Cup qualifier

China remain rank outsiders to advance to the 2018 World Cup, but their team are capturing the imagination of football fans in the world's most populous nation. 

Last Thursday's unlikely qualifying victory over South Korea attracted China's largest sports TV audience of the year, with more than 70 million people tuning in to watch some of the game.

China's 1-0 win against the Koreans in Changsa was broadcast on sports channel CCTV-5, and streamed on PPTV Sports. Yu Dabao scored in the 44th minute to give Marcello Lippi's side a first victory in six matches in their third-round campaign.

They will need to defeat Group A leaders Iran in Tehran on Tuesday night to maintain any realistic chance of securing one of Asia's four guaranteed spots for Russia 2018.

The match against South Korea attracted a peak of 41 million Chinese viewers during the second half as the home side tried to grimly hold on for victory. The average viewing time per fan was around 50 minutes, which is longer than usual. Crucially, the game attracted around 15 million new viewers.

It was also the most viewed sports programme ever streamed on PPTV Sports, who reported an all-time high live audience of 12.6 million, and video views of more than 25 million.

"Asia is home to the world's largest football audience and this historic achievement illustrates the strides we are making to achieve the AFC's Vision and Mission to ensure football remains the most popular sport in the continent," AFC General Secretary Dato' Windsor John told the-afc.com.

"The AFC will continue to work with all our member associations and broadcast, as well as commercial partners, to engage with and excite passionate fans across the continent."

By comparison, February's Super Bowl LI between New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons attracted a TV audience of 111.3 million, making it the fifth most-watched TV broadcast in history.

China's win was only their second in 32 attempts against South Korea, attracting more than double the television audience of last September's qualifier between the nations, with the Koreans winning 3-2 in Seoul.

Their one and only appearance at the World Cup finals was in 2002 when Korea and Japan were joint hosts in Asia's first staging of the event. 

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