The highest profile match of the World Cup, at least in the U.S., drew impressive numbers on ABC.
Saturday’s USA/England World Cup match drew a 7.3 rating and 13.0 million viewers on ABC, according to Nielsen fast-nationals, up 66% in ratings and 92% in viewership from the only USA World Cup match on ABC in 2006 (4.4, 6.7 mil).
USA/England ranks as the most-viewed first round World Cup match ever, and the most-viewed U.S. National Team match since ’94.
Including pregame coverage, the ABC telecast drew a 6.1 rating and 10.8 million viewers — making it the fifth-most viewed World Cup telecast (men or women) since ’94.
The match also aired on Univision. The Univision telecast drew 4.1 million viewers, equaling a combined audience of approximately 17.1 million viewers. Earlier, this site reported that the Univision telecast drew 3.8 million viewers; that was based on a New York Daily News report.
To put these numbers in perspective, the match drew more viewers than every game of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final — including Game 6, which hit a 36-year high of 8.3 million viewers.
Though ABC’s coverage trailed the first four games of the NBA Finals (14.1 mil, 15.7 mil, 16.0 mil and 16.4 mil), the combined audience on ABC and Univision topped each game.
Elsewhere on Saturday, ESPN drew a 2.5 U.S. rating and 3.7 million viewers for Argentina/Nigeria, the network’s top telecast of the World Cup so far.
Through Saturday, ESPN and ABC are averaging a 3.0 U.S. rating and 4.9 million viewers for World Cup coverage, up 88% in ratings and 108% in viewership from the comparable point in ’06 (1.6, 2.3 mil).
