With World Cup ratings widely expected to drop, FOX can be pleased with a mere six percent slide for the tournament’s first marquee matchup.
The 3-3 draw, which peaked with 3.7 million from 3:30-3:45 PM ET, had a streaming audience of 287,000 on Fox Sports’ digital platforms. Combined across TV and streaming, it had 3.21 million.
Viewership outpaced the 2014 group stage average, not including U.S. matches, by 13%. The match ranks as the most-watched soccer telecast on English-language TV since the Euro 2016 final on ESPN (Portugal-France: 4.5M).
Earlier in the day, Iran-Morocco had 1.7 million on FOX (including streaming) — down 20% from TV-only figures for Mexico-Cameroon on ESPN2 four years ago (2.1M).
Uruguay-Egypt started the day off with a 903,000 on FS1 (including streaming). There was no comparable early morning window in 2014.
The first two days of the World Cup have averaged 1.75 million viewers on FOX and FS1. Averages on Telemundo were not available. Including U.S. matches, the complete group stage averaged 3.5 million on ESPN/ABC in 2014, 2.4 million in 2010 and 1.69 million in 2006.
[Numbers from Fox Sports 6.16]
