The "Sportschau" loses, the "Aktuelle Sportstudio" wins: Even before the final whistle of the last matchday of the Bundesliga, there are clear figures in the TV balance. At the same time, ARD has once again seen a decline in viewership in the current season. On average, 3.662 million people watched the previous 33 editions of the season ending on Saturday. In the previous season, the average was 3.944 million before the last matchday.

"Watching football on television is no longer a matter of course," said ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky of the German Press Agency: "We also see that in the international matches." While the reach of the "Sportschau" decreased, the market share increased slightly compared to the previous season. "There are fewer viewers overall, people generally watch less television," Balkausky explained.

Within just two years, the TV classic with summaries of the Bundesliga has lost more than a million viewers. In the 2020/21 season, the average during the Corona pandemic was still 4.789 million people. But: Despite the decline in viewership, the "Sportschau" is almost always in the top five of the most watched TV shows on Saturdays. As an "anchor, it remains an important part of the ARD program," said Balkausky.

ARD: "Lack of tension" in the first half of the season

The "Sportschau" also suffered from a "lack of excitement" in the first half of the current season, said the ARD sports coordinator. As BVB caught up, so did the number of spectators. "There have been more recently," Balkausky said. He also pointed out that both FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund can be shown too rarely in "Sportschau".

Both clubs often play on Saturday at 18.30 CET in the top game of the day. Only on 15 out of 34 matchdays were summaries of Bayern games shown in the "Sportschau" on Saturday. This is not a problem for ZDF, which is the first broadcaster to be allowed to show moving images of the top game on free TV.

"Das aktuelle Sportstudio" reached an average of 2022.2023 million people on Bundesliga matchdays in the 33/1 season up to Matchday 81, even recording a slight increase. In the 2021/2022 season, the figure was 1.78 million. ZDF's market share also increased.

Sky can still hope for a slight increase with its main show. Ahead of the final matchday, the pay-TV channel's conference call on Saturday afternoon averaged around 1.7 million viewers – which is pretty much the average for the entire 2021/22 season.

The most successful single match on Sky was Bayern vs. Dortmund with 2.61 million viewers. The most watched live broadcast in the league was the opening match of the season with Eintracht Frankfurt against Bayern Munich: 5.7 million watched the game on the free TV channel Sat.1.