The 2010 World Cup continues to impress on ESPN, with the success of the United States only strengthening the numbers.
ESPN drew a 4.0 U.S. rating and 6.161 million viewers for Wednesday morning’s United States/Algeria World Cup match, making the match the most-viewed soccer telecast ever on the network.
The previous network high was 5.850 million viewers for Italy/Germany in 2006, and the previous high for a match involving the United States was 5.335 million for Germany/United States in 2002.
Last Friday’s USA/Slovenia match drew a 3.4 U.S. rating and 5.200 million viewers.
USA/Algeria also ranks as the most-viewed weekday afternoon telecast in the history of ESPN (excludes holidays), topping the previous record set by the aforementioned 2002 USA/Germany World Cup match (5.335 mil).
To put the numbers in perspective, the ESPN telecast drew more viewers than all but one game of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, the 2010 Indianapolis 500 (5.793 mil), and the Tiger Woods-fueled first round of The Masters (4.936 mil). The match could not surpass ESPN’s primetime coverage of the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft (7.290 mil).
USA/Algeria also attracted 1.1 million unique viewers on ESPN3.com, with an average of 328,000 viewers per minute.
Through Wednesday, the 2010 FIFA World Cup is averaging a 1.8 U.S. rating and 2.7 million viewers on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, up 40% in ratings and 49% in viewership from the comparable point in 2006 (1.3, 1.8 mil).
(ESPN)
