7/18 – Women’s World Cup Was One of ESPN’s Largest Audiences

Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final earned one of the largest audiences ever for a soccer telecast on a single network. The Japan/United States Women’s World Cup final drew a 7.4 U.S. rating and 13.458 million viewers on ESPN Sunday, according to Nielsen fast-nationals, the second-largest audience ever for a Women’s World Cup match in the United States. Only the 1999 United States/China final, which aired on broadcast network ABC, drew more viewers (17.975M). For some perspective, the 2010 Men’s World Cup final drew over 24 million viewers across ABC (15.905M) and Univision (8.821M). Sunday’s match set several milestones, ranking as the most-viewed soccer telecast (regardless of gender) ever on ESPN, the sixth-most viewed soccer telecast ever on a single network (again, regardless of gender), and the second-most viewed daytime program in the history of cable television, according to SMW.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *