I never thought Friendly matches had much market share..

Germany 1-2 England

Helmes 63' Upson 23'

Terry 84'

As England marched on under new coach Fabio Capello, I was intrigued that THR reported and interesting fact. Between Germany and the UK, they averaged about 18.9 million viewers. The market share was about 34-36.5, which is a lot for a Wednesday night. 

Usually, I tell my wife, oh England are playing such such, during the regular season. She asks, what's this for? World Cup? I said no, FIFA has designated weeks within the regular season to arrange friendly games between countries. My wife was not that excited about it, and I can understand, it seems the players and even the coaches are just out for a quick kick around. And seeing that they make over 3 substitutions (which is the max amount for a competitive game), you only get to see the stars for a short time.

My thought here, is if company's or brands are looking to penetrate a niche market for a cheaper price, collaborating with a friendly match is the way to go. The game is surrounded with the usual brands, sponsors and suspects, but this game was a PPV event, in the US. The same fans and viewers here in the US would have watched, tivo or used their DVR to see the game.

In any case, I was surprised to read the ratings and numbers on the friendly game. I thought I was only the crazy footy fan who watched them, I guess not.