German triumph serves up top TV figures
More than one million Austrians tuned in as Germany proceeded in the Football World Cup last night (Weds).Official figures presented today show that 873,000 Austrians followed national broadcaster ORFs live coverage of the final group D matches Germany vs. Ghana (1-0) and Australia vs. Serbia (2-1).Around 223,000 Austrian TV consumers meanwhile watched German station ARDs live broadcast of the match between the three-time World Cup winners and the “Black Stars”.ORF 2 however also had good market shares on Wednesday as 389,000 people watched primetime comedy movie “Zwei Ärzte sind einer zu viel”.Magazine “ATV Life” was private broadcaster ATVs most successful program yesterday with around 65,000 viewers, while 64,000 followed crime investigations in “C.S.I. New York” aired by Puls 4.Austria did not qualify for the current World Cup but thousands of Austrians gather at open air World Cup parties across the country to watch live match action together.The teams most recent participation in the event dates back 12 years when Herbert Prohaskas squad failed to get through the group stage of the 1998 World Cup in France.The team is currently managed by Dietmar Constantini who flew to South Africa to follow some matches live in the stadiums. Austrias next fixture is a friendly against Switzerland in Klagenfurt on 11 August.