The USA Women’s World Cup team has now delivered five of the event’s ten largest audiences on record.
The United States/China FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinal drew 5.7 million viewers on FOX Friday night, according to Nielsen fast-nationals — up 46% from the 2011 USA/Brazil quarterfinal on ESPN, which aired on a Sunday afternoon (3.9M). The match ranks as the third-most watched Women’s World Cup telecast on record (dates back to 1995), trailing only the finals in 1999 (18.0M) and 2011 (13.5M).
Five of the ten largest Women’s World Cup audiences have taken place this year, as have four of the five largest non-final audiences. As one could reasonably expect, each of those audiences has been for a match involving the United States.
The five USA matches thus far have averaged 4.7 million viewers across FOX and Fox Sports 1, up 114% from the four comparable telecasts in 2011 (2.2M). Keep in mind each of this year’s matches have aired in primetime, while none in 2011 began later than mid-afternoon.
Kansas City (7.8) and St. Louis (6.7) topped the charts for Friday’s telecast, delivering the tournament’s two highest local ratings in any market. Washington, D.C. (5.7), Austin, TX (5.6), Greensboro, NC (5.4) rounded out the top five.
USA/China had a 2.0 fast-national rating among adults 18-49, the highest for a USA match thus far. The matches against Colombia and Nigeria each scored a 1.8 rating in the demo, the Sweden match drew a 1.6, and the opener against Australia had a 1.3. The 2.0 is the highest for any program on FOX in more than three months — since the season finale of Empire in March (6.9).
Viewership peaked at 8.1 million from 9-9:15 PM ET, the most-watched quarter-hour of the tournament.
(Fri. numbers from Fox Sports)
