Absent the United States and airing on Fox Sports 1, the Women’s World Cup still did well Wednesday night.
The Japan/England FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinal drew 2.3 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Wednesday, a figure that includes 20 minutes of pre-match coverage — up 20% from Japan/Sweden on ESPN in 2011 (1.9M). The 2011 match aired on a weekday afternoon, but it also had a direct lead-in from the USA’s semifinal earlier in the day.
Japan’s win ranks as the most-watched non-U.S. match in this year’s Women’s World Cup, easily topping the previous high of 1.7 million for last Friday’s Germany/France quarterfinal on FOX. The previous high on Fox Sports 1 was 1.4 million for Saturday’s England/Canada quarterfinal.
It should go without saying that viewership was still nowhere close to the United States’ six matches, which have ranged from 3.3 million (group play against Australia) to 8.4 million (semifinal against Germany).
Wednesday’s match also earned 188,000 viewers on NBC Universo, bringing the combined total up to 2.5 million.
(Wed. numbers via Sports TV Ratings)
