Team USA’s first Women’s World Cup match scored record numbers on Fox Sports 1.
The United States/Australia FIFA Women’s World Cup match earned 3.3 million viewers on FS1 Monday night, up 208% from the first USA match in 2011, against North Korea on ESPN (1.1M). Monday’s match began at 7:30 PM ET, while the comparable match in 2011 started at 11:30 AM.
Viewership was the highest on record for a Women’s World Cup group play match (dates back to 1995), topping the previous high of 2.5 million for USA/Denmark in 1999, and the sixth-highest regardless of round.
The match also earned the largest soccer audience ever on FS1, well above the previous high of 806,000 for the USA/Mexico men’s friendly in April. It ranks as the 12th-most watched FS1 show since the network rebranded from Speed Channel in 2013, trailing five MLB and six NASCAR telecasts.
Head-to-head, USA/Australia trailed competing coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Final on NBCSN (3.9M). It also trailed hockey among adults 18-49 (1.4 to 1.3).
Spanish-language coverage of the match drew 203,000 viewers on NBC Universo (previously mun2), bringing the combined total to approximately 3.5 million. It had a 0.1 among adults 18-49, pulling the match into a tie with the NHL in the demo.
(Mon. numbers from Fox Sports, with additional info from ShowBuzz Daily)
