USA v England Pulls in Viewers

The USA v England match on ABC was the most viewed World Cup first round match and fifth most-viewed World Cup match ever. It was also the most watched U.S. MNT match since 1994.

They measured it in a two hour match window and this came to a 7.3 household rating (8,391,000 households and 12,956,000 viewers) based on fast nationals. The three-hour telecast, which included one hour of pre-match coverage, delivered a 6.1 household rating (7,034,000 households, and 10,763,000 viewers). In addition, 3.8 million watched the Spanish-language broadcast on Univision. The USSF media release does not mention people who may have watched it on CBC.

According to the release, the overall three-hour telecast ranks fifth all-time behind three World Cup finals, including the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final, and the USA’s Round of 16 match against Brazil in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, all of which were televised on ABC.

Top 5 Most-Viewed FIFA World Cup Telecasts (1994-present):

U.S.-China, Women’s WC Final (ABC, 7/10/99) – 18.0 million viewers (11.4 rating)

Brazil-Italy, WC Final (ABC, 7/17/94) – 14.5 (9.5 rating)

Brazil-U.S., Rd of 16 (ABC, 7/4/94) – 13.7 (9.3 rating)

Italy-France, WC Final (ABC, 7/9/06) – 12.0 (7.0 rating)

U.S.-England, First Rd (ABC, 6/12/10) – 10.8 (6.1 rating) including pre-match coverage