SBS records eight million ratings in Australia for World Cup

Millions of Australian have been dragging themselves out of warm beds to tune into Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) for live FIFA World Cup matches, boosting the network's ratings by eight million, Australia's media reported on Wednesday.

SBS's TV coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has peaked to 8.4 million viewers across Australia since the tournament kicked off, while its website has had 1 million unique browsers and 732,000 video views.

According to Australian Associated Press, Tuesday night saw plenty of Australians staying up to watch the live match between Mexico and Uruguay.

It drew the biggest audience for the night on SBS One, racking in a national average audience of 219,000 and a total reach of 454,000 viewers.

The live match between France and South Africa on SBS Two had a national average audience of 52,000 and a total reach of 131,000 viewers.

It was the first time simultaneous matches aired across SBS ONE and SBS TWO at midnight.

Source:Xinhua

Special Report: World Cup 2010