World Cup Germany-Brazil Semifinal Sets Records for Twitter, German TV

MAINZ/SAN FRANCISCO: Yesterday's Brazil vs. Germany World Cup match set an all-time ratings record in Germany and was also the most-talked-about single sports game in Twitter history.

The game, which saw Germany defeat Brazil by 7-1, drew 32.6 million viewers on average for the German public broadcaster ZDF. This marks the highest ever recorded viewership under the current audience measurement system. It equates to an audience share of 87.8 percent for ZDF, also one of the highest ever figures.

According to Twitter, the semifinal match drew 35.6 million tweets during the broadcast; this makes it the most-talked-about single sports game ever in the history of the microblogging site. The peak moment on Twitter came 29 minutes in, with the German team's fifth goal, producing 580,166 tweets in the minute after it was scored.

Additionally, ESPN’s telecast of Tuesday’s match ranks as the highest-rated and most-viewed World Cup semifinal match ever on any U.S. network, according to Nielsen.