The first stage of the World Cup knockout round commanded big increases on ESPN and ABC.
Led by Saturday’s Ghana/USA match, ESPN and ABC averaged a 3.1 U.S. rating and 5.042 million viewers for the World Cup Round of 16 (June 26-29), well above the 1.8 and 2.835 million the World Cup has averaged as a whole.
On ABC, Ghana’s win over Team USA drew an 8.5 final rating and 15.193 million viewers, up from the fast-national number reported earlier this week. The ABC telecast remains the most-viewed Men’s World Cup telecast ever and the 15th-most viewed sports telecast of the year on a single network.
Meanwhile, Argentina/Mexico drew a 3.4 and 5.554 million viewers on ABC Sunday, the network’s the most-viewed non-USA match of the World Cup.
In 2006, ABC aired its two Round of 16 telecasts at 10:30 AM — as opposed to this year’s 2:30 PM timeslot. The Saturday match (Germany/Sweden) drew a 2.2 and 3.046 million viewers, while the Sunday match (England/Ecuador) drew a 2.8 and 3.973 million.
ESPN had its best results for the Round of 16 over the weekend, with Sunday’s Germany/England match leading the way (2.7, 4.311 mil). Saturday’s Uruguay/South Korea was the network’s #2 match of the round (2.2, 3.246 mil).
The network did not do as well for the weekday matches, with Tuesday’s Spain/Portugal match the only one to top a 2.0 rating (2.1, 3.059 mil).
