The final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup not surprisingly earned the top overnight of the tournament on ESPN/ABC.
Including pre-match coverage, the Germany/Argentina World Cup final earned a 9.7 overnight rating on ABC Sunday — up 13% from both Spain/Netherlands in 2010 (8.6) and Italy/France in 2006 (8.6) and the highest overnight of the tournament on the ESPN family of networks. Germany/Argentina topped all four United States matches, which aired on ESPN: Belgium/USA (9.6), USA/Portugal (9.1), USA/Ghana (7.0) and Germany/USA (6.3).
Overnights were not available for the match portion only. The match portion in 2010 had a 9.9 overnight.
All of the overnights listed for ESPN/ABC’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup have included the pre-match window, while the final numbers have been for the match portion only — which may explain why the USA matches typically saw a rise from the overnight to the final.
Overall, the 9.7 ranks as the third-highest overnight ever for a men’s World Cup match on ESPN/ABC. Only the 1994 Brazil/Italy final (12.8) and the Brazil/USA Round of 16 match the same year (10.4) did better.
Locally, Washington (DC) was the top market for Sunday’s match with a 15.4 overnight. San Diego (13.4), Los Angeles (13.0), the Bay Area (13.0) and Orlando (12.6) rounded out the top five. Overnights and local numbers for the Univision telecast were not immediately available.
(Sun. overnight from ESPN)
