The 2014 FIFA World Cup was a rousing success for ESPN/ABC and Univision.
Coverage of the World Cup averaged approximately 8.1 million viewers combined on the ESPN and Univision networks, up 45% from 2010 (5.6M). This year’s tournament included three of the four most-watched soccer telecasts ever in the United States, including the top two — the Germany/Argentina final (26.5M) and the United States/Portugal group play match (24.7M).
The tournament also included the most-watched World Cup telecast ever on a single U.S. network (USA/Portugal on ESPN — 18.2M) and the most-watched telecast of any kind on Spanish-language TV (Netherlands/Mexico on Univision — 10.4M).
In particular, the ESPN family of networks averaged a 2.8 U.S. rating and 4.6 million viewers for the World Cup — up 33% in ratings and 39% in viewership from 2010 (2.1, 3.3M), up 75% and 96%, respectively, from 2006 (1.6, 2.3M), and the highest rated and most-viewed World Cup ever on English-language TV. After bottoming out at a 0.7 and 1.0 million viewers for the 2002 World Cup, ratings and viewership on ESPN/ABC have increased by double-digits for each successive tournament.
Nine of the ten most-watched men’s World Cup matches ever on ESPN or ESPN2 took place this year, topped by USA/Portugal. Including coverage on ABC, this year’s World Cup accounted for ten of the 20 most-watched World Cup matches ever on the family of networks, including the top three.
Univision averaged 3.5 million viewers for its coverage, also a record for the network. Two of the three most-watched World Cup matches ever on Univision took place this year — Netherlands/Mexico and the Germany/Argentina final (9.2M).
The World Cup compares quite favorably to other sports, with the caveat that it had the benefit of airing on two networks. The 2014 NBA Playoffs averaged approximately 4.9 million viewers across 89 telecasts on the ESPN networks, TNT and NBA TV, the 2013-14 college football bowl season averaged 5.6 million for 35 telecasts on the ESPN networks, CBS and FOX, and the 2013 MLB Postseason averaged 6.3 million for 38 telecasts on FOX, TBS and MLB Network.
The men’s NCAA Tournament, the only other major event to combine viewership across multiple networks, averaged 10.7 million for 35 combined telecast windows on CBS and Turner Sports.
(Tournament avg. from ESPN, Univision; NCAA bowl avg. from AL.com)
