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USA vs. Japan Averages a Staggering 25.4 Million Viewers on Fox; Smashes U.S. Viewing Record

Posted by on Jul 6, 2015 17:00

This is just amazing. Based on the trends we were seeing for the Women’s World Cup, I thought the viewership for the USA vs. Japan final would average around 15 million viewers. I was only off by ten million viewers. Sunday’s final played in Vancouver at a U.S. time zone-friendly 7 p.m. ET when families could watch together saw an NFL-like 25.4 million viewers for the match.

Fox could not have foreseen this type of viewership. Combined with a 12.9 rating, Sunday’s match which saw the U.S. avenge its 2011 loss in the Women’s World Cup Final to Japan is now the new standard for soccer viewership in America. It certainly beats the record for a women’s game which was previously the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final (just under 18 million) by 41% between the U.S. and Japan and outpaces the overall record which was set last year, a World Cup Group Stage match between the U.S Men’s National Team vs. Portugal (18.2 million) by 39%.

It also beat the 2011 final (13.5 million) by a staggering 89%.

Last night’s final was the most-watched program since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship on CBS in April between Duke and Wisconsin which garnered an impressive 28.3 million.

Kansas City and St. Louis led all local markets for last night match.

For the entire tournament, Fox/Fox Sports 1/Fox Sports 2 averaged 1.824 million viewers for the 52 games compared to 1.5 million on ESPN/ESPN2 for the 2o11 Women’s World Cup which had 32 matches played.

Here’s the celebratory announcement from Fox Sports. You can hear champagne corks popping and rebel yells from Fox Sports executives as you read it.

Fox Women's World Cup
STAGGERING 25.4 MILLION WITNESS USA DEFEAT JAPAN TO WIN COVETED FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015™ TITLE

Audience Peaks at 31 Million Viewers
USA-Japan is Most-Watched Soccer Match in U.S. History

Vancouver, B.C. – The USA’s emphatic 5-2 victory over Japan in the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015™ final, America’s first Women’s World Cup championship since 1999, is the most- watched soccer match in U.S. history, according to Nielsen. The match posted a prodigious 12.9 household rating/share with 25.4 million viewers, and peaked at 30.9 million between 8:30-8:45 PM ET.

USA-Japan final highlights:

  • The 2015 USA-Japan final is the most-watched soccer match in U.S. history, obliterating the previous mark of 18,220,000 set by USA-Portugal during last year’s World Cup group stage match (6/22/15) by +39%.
  • USA-Japan also shatters prior mark for a women’s soccer match, the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final (17,975,000) by +41%.
  • The match beat the audience for the 2011 Women’s World Cup Final, which also featured USA vs. Japan, by +89% (13.5 million).
  • Last night’s match average audience exceeded every game of the NBA Finals, the 2014-15 broadcast season average of every show in primetime, including Sunday Night Football, and the primetime average of the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.
  • Last night’s match delivered the most-watched telecast since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament championship game on CBS (28.3 million, 4/6/15).
  • 43.2 million viewers watched all or part of last night’s final.
  • The audience began at 18.2 million viewers at 7:00PM ET and peaked at a tournament-high 30.1 million from 8:30-8:45 PM ET.
  • FOX Sports GO set a new record with 232,000 unique streamers. This was the largest authenticated streaming audience in FOX Sports GO history, besting the previous mark set by the USA-Germany semifinal (166,000 unique streamers).  Women’s World Cup matches now comprise FOX Sports GO’s top 5 most-viewed events ever.
  • Top markets for USA vs. Japan: Kansas City (20.6), followed by St. Louis (20.5), San Diego (19.5), Denver (19.4), Austin (19.1), Seattle (18.3), Washington D.C. and West Palm Beach (18.2), San Francisco and Las Vegas (17.7). The rating in Kansas City is the highest for any individual market in this tournament. The previous high was set by Kansas City and St. Louis (9.3) for USA-Germany in the Semifinal.

Note: All comparisons based on single net English language viewership.

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015™ summary:

  • The 2015 tournament averaged 1.824 million viewers per each of the tournament’s 52 matches across all networks (FOX, FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2), +21% over 1,511,000 averaged on ESPN and ESPN2 for the 32 matches played in 2011.
  • Top markets for all seven USA matches: St. Louis (8.0), followed by Kansas City (7.5), Washington D.C. (7.3), Austin (6.6), San Diego (6.4), Richmond (6.2), Denver and Baltimore (6.1), Norfolk and West Palm Beach (6.0).
  • Top markets for all 52 matches: St. Louis (1.94), Washington D.C. (1.85), Richmond (1.72), Kansas City (1.65), Sacramento (1.64), Baltimore (1.60), Orlando (1.56), Los Angeles (1.54), San Diego (1.51) and Las Vegas (1.50).

And that will do it. Review of Fox’s coverage coming up.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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