World Cup: Latest USA Win Earns Fourth-Largest WWC Audience

Posted by | 07/14/2011 at 9:49 pm

The United States’ success has generated near-record numbers for the Women’s World Cup.

Wednesday’s United States/France Women’s World Cup semifinal earned a 2.2 U.S. rating and 3.354 million viewers on ESPN, the fourth-most viewed Women’s World Cup match ever in the United States.

Only Sunday’s United States/Brazil quarterfinal (3.890M), the 1999 United States/Brazil semifinal (4.924M) and the 1999 United States/China final (17.975M) earned more viewers.

The match also ranks as the most-viewed weekday Women’s World Cup match ever.

Of note, United States/France drew fewer viewers than the Mexico/Uruguay Copa America match on Univision the previous night (3.703M).

Baltimore led all markets with a 4.6 for Wednesday’s match. Cincinnati (4.4), Las Vegas (4.4), San Diego (4.1) and Washington, D.C. (3.9) followed.

Entering Sunday’s final, the 2011 Women’s World Cup is averaging a 0.62 U.S. rating and 934,000 viewers on the ESPN family of networks, up 158% in ratings and 218% in viewership from 2007 (0.24, 294K).

(Numbers from espnmediazone3.com, Copa America numbers from TV By the Numbers)

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  • Sports Fan

    What was the TV rating for the 1999 World Cup game?

    • Paulsen

      The 1999 final earned an 11.4 (would equal 9.8 in today’s Nielsen universe of 115.9 million homes).