Despite competition from the NBA Finals, a soccer doubleheader attracted solid numbers on ESPN and Unimas Tuesday night.
Tuesday’s United States/Panama World Cup qualifier earned approximately 2.6 million viewers across ESPN and Unimas, an impressive number considering the late start time (10:11 PM ET) and direct competition from Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
On ESPN in particular, the game drew a 0.8 U.S. rating and 1.4 million viewers — the network’s second-largest audience ever for a World Cup qualifier or international friendly. Only the Mexico/United States qualifier in March of this year earned more viewers (2.4M).
Earlier in the night, the Mexico/Costa Rica match earned approximately 3.3 million viewers across ESPN and Unimas, with the latter providing the majority of the audience (2.8M). ESPN averaged a 0.3 U.S. rating and 540,000 viewers for its coverage of the match.
Mexico’s two previous World Cup qualifiers aired solely on Telemundo, earning 2.6 million viewers on Friday (vs. Panama) and 2.9 million the previous Tuesday (vs. Jamaica).
(Tuesday’s numbers from ESPN, Univision via TV By the Numbers, with additional info from NBC Universal Media Village)
