Fox Sports 1 hit a non-U.S. high for Women’s World Cup coverage over the weekend. In other news, a rain-drenched Sunday Night Baseball game sank on ESPN, and the Timbers/Sounders Major League Soccer match hit a near season-high.
England/Canada Tops Non-U.S. Cable Slate
- Saturday’s England/Canada FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinal drew nearly 1.4 million viewers on Fox Sports 1, the largest audience of the tournament for a non-U.S. match on cable, and the third-largest regardless of channel. Only England/Mexico during group play (1.36M to 1.35M) and the Germany/France quarterfinal (1.7M) earned a larger audience, both on the FOX broadcast network. The match drew an additional 110,000 viewers on NBC Universo, bringing the total up to 1.5 million. In other action Saturday, the Australia/Japan quarterfinal drew 1.1 million on FS1. (via Sports TV Ratings)
Delayed Sunday Night Baseball Low
- The Cubs/Cardinals Sunday Night Baseball game, which had 2 1/2 hours of weather delays and did not end until 1 AM ET, drew 1.2 million viewers on ESPN — unsurprisingly the least-watched Sunday night game of the season (13 telecasts). Viewership dropped 60% from Rangers/Angels last year, which had a World Cup lead-in (2.9M), but increased 14% over an even longer-delayed Rangers/Cardinals game in 2013 (1.0M). (via ShowBuzz Daily)
Timbers/Sounders Among Top Games of Season
- Sunday’s Timbers/Sounders Major League Soccer match drew 371,000 viewers on FS1, the third-largest audience on an English-language network this season. The only matches to earn a larger audience were Orlando City/NYC FC on ESPN2 in March (539K) and Orlando City/DC United on FS1 two weeks earlier (378K). In other action Sunday, the NYC FC/Red Bulls match drew 297,000 on ESPN — the sixth-largest audience of the season. (ShowBuzz Daily)
