As Germany took the 2014 World Cup title in an extra-time win against Argentina, broadcasters around the world joined in celebrating an outstanding set of results for TV viewing from the tournament.
The group matches had already set new TV records in a number of markets, with TV advertising and subscriptions also reaping the rewards.
According to research from PEPP TV, an all-time high audience of 41.89 million viewers in Germany tuned in to watch their national team win the World Cup (an 86.3% share), with a separate online survey suggesting that an additional 12 million cheered on the likes of Gotze, Neuer and Kramer.
In the UK a peak TV audience of 21 million viewers tuned in for the final match, which seems a world away from the dashed hopes and dreams of the England squad just a few weeks ago.
In Ireland, a 55.73% share (857,000 viewers) watched the match between Argentina and Germany, with the entire World Cup tournament generating 2.5 million online streams. When looking specifically at adults aged 15-34, the final also ranks as the number one programme this year to-date across all channels.
Elsewhere in Europe, the 0-1 win for Germany reached an audience of 16.9 million in France (a 72.1% share), 2.58 million in Sweden (a 73.8% share) and 10.56 million in Poland (a 63.4% share) – the biggest Polish TV audience since 2012.
Across the pond, the Netherlands vs Argentina match was the highest-rated and most-viewed World Cup semi-final match ever on any US network with 6.8 million viewers, while 63.7% of the Argentinian TV audience watched their national team being defeated by Germany in the final.
The final match also set a new record for Twitter, according to data from the social network, with the German win generating a record-high of 618,725 tweets per minute.
672 million tweets were sent throughout the entire tournament.
