While the USWNT has generated the most headlines, and the largest audiences, non-U.S. matches have been a key driver of this year’s Women’s World Cup viewership.
Wednesday’s Netherlands-Sweden FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinal averaged 2.34 million viewers on FS1, up a fraction of a percent from Japan-England in 2015, which aired in primetime (2.33M), and up 20% from Japan-Sweden on ESPN in 2011 (1.95M).
The Netherlands’ win, which peaked with 2.99 million from 5:15-5:30 PM ET, ranks as the most-watched Women’s World Cup semifinal on record, excluding U.S. matches.
It also delivered the second-largest audience for a non-U.S. match in this year’s tournament, behind France-Brazil in the group stage (2.84M).
The match averaged a streaming audience of 113,000, up 337% from 2015, and a record for a non-U.S. Women’s World Cup match on Fox Sports’ digital platforms. Including streaming, it had 2.45 million.
Entering Sunday’s final, the Women’s World Cup is now averaging 1.40 million viewers across Fox Sports — up 6% from 2015 (1.33M) and up 50% from 2011 on ESPN and ESPN2 (934K).
Viewership is up despite earlier start times for this year’s matches, which are taking place six hours ahead of Eastern time. No match has started later than 3 PM ET, after several in 2015 aired in primetime.
With the shift in time zones, four of the six U.S. matches have declined from 2015. While that would usually correspond with a decline for the tournament overall, the non-U.S. matches have evidently picked up the slack.
[Numbers from Fox Sports]
