RIO DE JANEIRO: Television audiences for the Confederations Cup semi-finals broke more records in key global markets.

Brazil’s semi-final game against  Uruguay last Wednesday drew an audience of more than 53.5m across nine key television markets, a high for the tournament.

Spain’s semi against Italy on Thursday drew the largest Italian audience for a sporting event since the final of Euro 2012. An average audience of 12.5m tuned in to RAI Uno, attracting more Italian viewers than the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup.

It was the third most popular programme on Italian television this year.

The game also achieved the third biggest Spanish TV audience for a sporting event this year, with 10.4m watching on Telecinco.

Viewing figures in Germany and the United Kingdom also hit new highs in those territories for the Confederations Cup. Some 4.7m tuned in to German channel ARD and 4.2m followed BBC1 coverage in the UK.

TV Globo in Brazil scored its biggest audience of the tournament so far during Brazil’s semi-final against Uruguay, with an average of 29.7m viewers. A further 1.5m watched on Bandeirantes, taking the total Brazilian audience to a tournament-best 31.2m.

==================