The numbers are in. The USA-Belgium game on ESPN registered 16.5 million viewers becoming the 2nd most-watched men’s soccer game in U.S. television history. It falls below the USA-Portugal game on June 22.
ESPN averaged a 9.8 rating for the game, better than the 9.6 rating for USA-Portugal. To be exact, the game averaged 16.491 million. With Univision’s viewership of 5.1 million, the total audience yesterday was 21.6 million. Again, just below USA-Portugal’s audience of 24.7 million.
Locally, New York led all markets with a 15.0 rating. Hartford/New Haven was second with 13.2 followed by Washington, DC’s 12.8. Richmond, VA was in 4th with a 12.3 and Boston’s 12.2 was 5th.
WatchESPN saw 3.5 million unique viewers. Adding Univision’s 1.8 million uniques, you have an audience of 5.3 million viewers online and adding that to the 21.6 million watching TV, you have an audience of just under 27 million people watching. This does not count the large viewing parties across the country.
Here’s the press release from ESPN.
USA-Belgium: Second Most-Viewed Men’s Soccer Telecast Ever in U.S.
Combined TV, Digital and Audio Coverage Posts Average Minute Audience of Nearly 18 Million
ESPN Telecast Averages 16,491,000 Viewers and 9.8 HH US Rating
Match Generates WatchESPN Viewership Records
ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Telecasts Reach Nearly 100 Million People
Significant Viewership Growth Over 2010 and 2006, including in All Key Demos
Match Sets Rating Record in 20 markets; Washington, D.C.; New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles Highest-Rated Thru 56 Games
ESPN’s telecast of the United States’ 2-1 loss to Belgium in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday, July 1, averaged 16,491,000 viewers and a 9.8 US HH rating, making it the second most-viewed men’s soccer match in the United States ever, across all networks (behind the 18,220,000 viewers and 9.6 US HH rating ESPN earned for USA vs. Portugal on June 22).
In addition, WatchESPN delivered a platform record average minute audience of 1,107,000 viewers, providing a seven percent lift to ESPN’s television viewership (previous record was set for USA vs. Germany on June 26). WatchESPN also averaged 3,500,000 unique viewers and 190,200,000 minutes viewed during the match, both records for the platform.
The 2014 event has now delivered ESPN’s six largest audiences for men’s World Cup matches ever. Overall, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC have combined to reach more than 99,000,000 people through the first 52 matches. Additional highlights:
- ESPN’s television, digital and audio coverage generated a combined average minute audience of nearly 18 million people.
- At its highest point, ESPN’s telecast averaged 19,543,000 viewers and an 11.5 US HH rating from 5:30 to 6 p.m. while WatchESPN peaked at 1,500,000 concurrent users.
- ESPN’s telecast is the third most-viewed soccer match – men’s or women’s – in the United States behind ESPN’s record-setting USA vs. Portugal telecast and the 1999 Women’s World Cup final (USA vs. China) on ABC (17,975,000 viewers).
Significant Television Viewership Increases Over 2010 and 2006
ESPN continues to generate its largest audiences ever for a World Cup, averaging 4,080,000 viewers and a 2.5 US HH rating for the 56 telecasts on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC combined. The 2014 coverage marks increases of 44 percent and 122 percent (vs. 2,836,000 in 2010 and 1,838,000 in 2006), and 39 percent and 92 percent (vs. 1.8 in 2010 and 1.3 in 2006), respectively.
In addition, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC have posted significant audience increases in every key people and male demographic, highlighted by double-digit growth in the 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 categories.
WatchESPN, ESPN.com and ESPNFC.Com Growth Over 2010
WatchESPN is averaging 829,000 unique viewers and 36.9 million minutes per game through the end of the round of 16, for increases of 173 percent and 176 percent, respectively.
- ESPNFC.com is also generating significant usage increases, averaging 4,700,000 daily unique visitors for a 42 percent increase over 2010 and 5,700,000 video starts per day for a 1051 percent increase.
- ESPN.com is seeing 13,500,000 average daily unique visitors (a 40 percent increase from 2010) and 12,500,000 video starts per day (up 177 percent).
- The SportsCenter app is averaging 3,800,000 daily unique visitors for a 404 percent increase over 2010
Metered Markets
New York led all markets for ESPN’s USA vs. Belgium telecast with a 15.0 rating, followed by Hartford/New Haven (13.2), Washington, D.C., (12.8), Richmond (12.3), Boston (12.2), West Palm Beach (12.0), Baltimore (11.4), Cincinnati (11.4), San Diego (11.0), Columbus (10.8), Norfolk (10.8) and Orlando (10.8).
Twenty markets recorded their highest overnight rating for a World Cup match on ESPN or ESPN2 ever, including six that were among the top seven largest for the telecast: New York, Hartford/New Haven, Richmond, Boston, West Palm Beach and Baltimore. The additional 14, ordered by highest rating: Norfolk (10.8), Kansas City (10.6), Philadelphia (9.6), Raleigh/Durham (9.4), Greensboro (9.2), Tampa/St. Petersburg (9.0), Greenville (8.9), Pittsburgh (8.7), New Orleans (8.7), Birmingham (8.5), Jacksonville (8.5), Detroit (8.3), Buffalo (7.8) and Oklahoma City (6.6).
Overall, Washington, D.C., continues to lead all markets for matches on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC through the first 56 games with a 4.5 average rating, followed by New York (4.2), San Francisco (3.9), Los Angeles (3.6), San Diego (3.5), Orlando (3.5), Hartford/New Haven (3.5), Miami/Fort Lauderdale (3.4), West Palm Beach (3.4), Richmond (3.3) and Boston (3.3).
I’ll have the ESPN World Cup Quarterfinals announcing assignments and Univision ratings press release coming up.
