La Liga's behind-closed-doors return last week saw its international viewership grow by more than 48 per cent compared to previous rounds of the 2019/20 season, including substantial spikes in India and South Africa, according to Nielsen, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.

In addition to a collective 4.5 million domestic TV audience, the resumption of Spanish soccer's top flight, following its coronavirus-enforced hiatus, also drove audience growth in some of the league's overseas broadcast territories.

Though the soccer body did not release the official audience numbers, La Liga said its average viewership across Africa grew by 73 per cent during matchday 28, which was played between 11th and 14th June. That growth was aided in part by a 210 per cent audience spike in South Africa, where La Liga opened an office in Johannesburg in 2015.

La Liga also recorded audience growth in Asia, including a 72 per cent spike in India across the league's live broadcasts via social media network Facebook.

In addition, La Liga saw an audience uptick of 56 per cent across Europe. In particular, audiences in Belgium grew by more than 130 per cent, while viewership in Denmark increased by 46 per cent.