Scotland’s horror loss to Germany breaks viewership records as millions tune in

SCOTLAND had perhaps the worst possible start to their Euro 2024 campaign – and millions saw it happen before their eyes.

Germany beat Steve Clarke‘s men in Munich to the tune of a 5-1 scoreline.

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The Scots were up against it from the off and by half-time their fate was all but sealed, 3-0 down and with a man sent off following Ryan Porteous‘ rash challenge on Ilkay Gundogan.

Scotland can still qualify for the last 16 of the Euros but dropping points against either of Switzerland or Hungary could prove fatal.

While getting a result against the host nation was always going to be difficult, the manner of the defeat was a massive disappointment for the Tartan Army, both in Germany at back home.

Around 200,000 fans have travelled to the tournament itself, with or without tickets, but many more have cheered the team on from home.

Last night’s viewing figures on STV broke records as families gathered round television sets to watch Euro 2024’s opening game.

The match in Munich became the highest-ever opening game audience across a Euro competition on any channel, according to BARB.

1.79m punters tuned into STV to watch the clash, with a peak audience of 1.38m.

The coverage was not only the channel’s best watched broadcast of 2024 but also the most-watched programme on any channel in Scotland so far this year.

On the STV Player there were 524,000 streams – the platform’s highest EVER figures for a football match match.

It beat the previous record set by the Euro 2020 clash between England and Denmark, which garnered 494,000 views.

Bobby Hain, MD of Broadcast at STV, said: “We’re thrilled to have delivered exclusive coverage of the first match of the UEFA Euros 2024 between Scotland and hosts, Germany.

“Scotland is a nation of proud football fans and the incredible ratings for both the channel and STV Player are testament to that.

“With loads of live matches live on STV, we’re hugely excited about a month of top-flight football coming up for fans.”

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