The FIFA World Cup quarterfinals delivered a pair of viewership milestones for FOX, with France-England setting a record for the round.
Including pre-match coverage, Saturday’s France-England FIFA World Cup quarterfinal averaged a 3.9 rating and 8.86 million viewers on FOX — marking the most-watched World Cup quarterfinal on a single network. Viewership jumped 39% from Croatia-Russia on FOX four years ago, which prior to this year held the record (6.32M).
Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo averaged a 1.3 and 3.10 million, bringing the combined figure up to a 5.2 and 11.96 million.
France-England dominated the rest of television Saturday, nearly doubling the Army-Navy Game on CBS (6.94M) and nearly quadrupling ABC’s Celtics-Warriors NBA Finals rematch in primetime (3.14M).
The Bay Area led all markets for FOX coverage with an 8.1 rating and 29 share, followed by Washington, D.C., at a 7.5/25. Austin, Texas, ranked third at a 6.5/27 followed by the nation’s #1 market New York at an impressive-for-its-size 6.1/21. Boston also turned in a 6.1/21.
Ranking second among quarterfinal matches, Argentina’s extra-time win over the Netherlands averaged a 2.7 and 6.44 million on FOX Friday — the second-largest audience on record for a World Cup semifinal. Adding in Telemundo’s 1.4 and 3.10 million, the match had a combined 4.1 and 9.54 million.
Washington D.C. was the top market for FOX coverage at 4.9/21, followed by New York (4.5/16), San Diego (4.4/20), West Palm Beach, Fla. (4.3/14) and the Bay Area (4.2/23). Top ten media markets New York (#1), Washington (#8) and the Bay Area (#10) ranked among the five highest rated markets for each of the four quarterfinals on FOX, with Washington the top market for three of the four.
Rounding out the quarterfinal slate, Morocco-Portugal drew a combined 3.7 and 7.60 million (2.7 and 5.62 million on FOX; 1.0 and 1.97 million on Telemundo) and Croatia-Brazil drew a combined 2.8 and 6.24 million (1.9, 4.48M on FOX; 0.9, 1.76M on Telemundo).
While FOX has largely reported full program ratings for its World Cup coverage (i.e., including pre-match coverage), match window viewership is now available for the final USMNT matches in the tournament. The U.S. win over Iran to conclude group play averaged 13.98 million viewers and the round of 16 loss to the Netherlands averaged 15.28 million, compared to 10.8 and 16.5 million respectively for the equivalent 2014 matches on ESPN.
(Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 12.13)
