World Cup: Massive 8.6 Overnight For Japan/USA

Posted by | 07/18/2011 at 12:24 pm

The finale of the 2011 Women’s World Cup scored strong numbers for ESPN.

Sunday’s Japan/United States Women’s World Cup final drew an 8.6 overnight rating on ESPN, the highest overnight ever for a Women’s World Cup match on ESPN.

The previous high was a 3.2 for the 1999 United States/Brazil semifinal.

For comparison purposes, the 1999 United States/China Women’s World Cup final drew a 13.3 overnight on broadcast network ABC.

The 8.6 overnight puts the Women’s World Cup final ahead of several marquee sporting events — including the MLB All-Star Game (7.9), the Daytona 500 (8.2), the Fiesta (6.7), Orange (7.1) and Sugar (8.4) Bowls, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final (5.7), and every game of the Heat/Bulls NBA Eastern Conference Finals (low of 7.2, high of 7.7).

Last year’s Spain/Netherlands World Cup final drew a 9.9 overnight on broadcast network ABC (8.6 when pre-match coverage is included). Keep in mind last year’s World Cup matches also aired on Univision.

(This year’s numbers from USA Today)

  • Jeffrey

    This is a great number! However, please don’t extrapolate this to the point where we say soccer is ready to conquer the States, finally. For this sport, this is conquering the States. There will always be a tremendous flare-up every four years. Just don’t say “Soccer is the sport of the future”. It’s always the sport of the future.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_T42P2NVEHSBIB2P63GIWUJRBFU kaklu

      Actually the ” every four year ” spike in interest for soccer is a thing of the past. It’s now more ” like every year “. year 0: the men’s World Cup; year 0+1: the women’s World Cup; year 0+2: The Euro; year 0+3: The Confederations Cup; year 0+4: back to the men’s World Cup