With teams in Spain and England competing well in the second group phase, average ratings in those countries rose from those achieved for the first round.
An average of more than 5 million TV viewers per match tuned in in Spain compared with 4.6 million for the first round games. In England, the ratio was 6.4 million per match for the second round compared with 5.5 million for the first phase.
Italian clubs also performed better than last year which led to a marginal rise in average TV viewers for the second round to around 7 million per game in comparison with the 2001/02 season.
Comparatively, teams in Germany and France failed to reach the latter stages of the competition meaning that ratings for the respective host broadcasters RTL and TF1 fell dramatically after the first round.
UEFA took the decision to axe the second round group phase of the competition for next season in light of the declining TV ratings overall with too many matches diluting the interest in the tournament.
According to the Mediametrie Eurodata statistics, the on-pitch performance of the clubs of the various countries understandably had the biggest impact on the ratings. However, the average viewership for the phase was still down on the average from the whole of the previous year's competition in all the five major European markets - France, Germany, Spain and England - bar Italy.
Television ratings for the second group phase of this year's Champions League - which is to be axed next season - were largely dictated by on-the-pitch performance according to new research by Mediametrie Eurodata.
