Like the quarterfinals, the World Cup semifinals set a new viewership high on FOX.
The FIFA World Cup semifinals averaged 6.53 million viewers on FOX (including pre-match coverage), up 27% from 2018 (5.15M), up 22% from 2014 on ESPN (5.33M) and a record for semifinal coverage on a single network. Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo and Peacock averaged 4.5 million (+60%).[1]
Keep in mind this is the first World Cup since Nielsen began include out-of-home viewing in its viewership estimates.
Individually, Wednesday’s France-Morocco match averaged 6.59 million on FOX — up 17% from 2018 (Croatia-England: 5.62M), up 20% from 2014 (Netherlands-Argentina: 5.51M) and the most-watched men’s World Cup semifinal ever on a single network.
The previous high was set a day earlier by Argentina-Croatia, which averaged 6.47 million on FOX — up 43% from ’18 (France-Belgium: 4.54M) and up 26% from 2014 on ESPN (Germany-Brazil: 5.11M).
Regardless of gender, the single-network record for a World Cup semifinal remains 7.01 million for United States-England in the 2019 Women’s World Cup on FOX. (That figure includes pre-match coverage; the match window audience was 7.89 million).
Spanish-language figures on Telemundo were not immediately available.
On FOX, New York led all markets for France-Morocco with a 4.8 rating and 19 share, followed by the Bay Area (4.5/26), Washington, D.C. (4.3/19), Providence, R.I. (3.9/15). A pair of Texas markets, Dallas and Austin, tied for fifth with a 3.7/18.
Denver led all markets for Argentina-Croatia with a 4.4/19, with the Bay Area again second at a 4.3/25. Austin (4.1/18) and New York (4.0/15) ranked third and fourth, with Washington D.C. (3.8/18) and West Palm Beach, Fla. (3.8/13) rounding out the top five.
New York, the Bay Area and Washington D.C. have placed in the top five of each quarterfinal and semifinal on FOX.
[1] It was not immediately clear whether the Telemundo figures do or do not include pre-match coverage.
(Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports, Telemundo)
