<a href="/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/espn-univision-logos.jpg"></a><a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/abc-sports-logo.gif"></a><div><figure class="image"><a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/abc-sports-logo.gif"></a></figure></div>If anyone doubted if soccer is a mainstream sport in the United States, they only have to look at the eyepopping numbers of people who watched the World Cup this weekend to see how ABC and Univision both had record TV ratings for soccer.
Saturday’s broadcast of the United States against Ghana game on ABC drew an outstanding 14.8 million viewers. The U.S.-Ghana game ranks as the most-watched Men’s World Cup game ever, with only the 1999 Women’s Final (U.S.-China) averaging more households and viewers for a soccer game (11,307,000 households and 17,975,000 viewers). Combined with the Univision viewing audience for the USA versus Ghana game, the total viewing audience was close to 20 million people in the States.
Sunday’s broadcast of Argentina against Mexico on Univision drew a record 9.36 million viewers, which is an all-time record for any genre of Spanish-language television programs ever in the United States. The previous record was 6.7 million TV viewers for the 2006 World Cup game also featuring Argentina and Mexico. ABC, meanwhile, drew a 3.9 overnight rating for Mexico vs Argentina on Sunday afternoon, the network’s highest overnight of the World Cup for a match that did not involve the United States.
For ABC on Saturday, San Diego was the top market for Saturday’s Team USA game, delivering a 15.4 rating. San Diego was the top market for all three previous U.S. matches – vs. England (11.5, ABC), vs. Slovenia (8.5, ESPN) and vs. Algeria (8.9, ESPN). Rounding out the top 10 for Saturday’s match were Washington, D.C. (13.8), San Francisco (13.3), Cincinnati (12.9), Las Vegas (11.7), Austin (11.4), Columbus, Ohio (10.6), Norfolk, Va. (10.6), Seattle-Tacoma (10.6) and West Palm Beach (10.5).
Through 50 games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the ESPN networks (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC) are averaging a 1.8 U.S. rating, 2,081,000 households, and 2,781,000 viewers. The rating is up 48% from 2006 (1.2), while household impressions are up 54% (from 1,349,000) and viewers are up 60% (from 1,740,000).

Record Ratings for ABC and Univision World Cup TV Broadcasts - World Soccer Talk

Record Ratings for ABC and Univision World Cup TV Broadcasts

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The 2010 World Cup has exploded on US television with record ratings. During the first weekend, the audience numbers for the first five games for the 2010 World Cup on ESPN were twice as high as those from four years ago during the 2006 World Cup. And now, during the second weekend, Univision is reporting that their broadcast of Mexico against France was the largest audience for a World Cup match on its network.&nbsp;Not only that, but&nbsp;ESPN is reporting that the United States against Slovenia match was ESPN’s third most-watched soccer telecast of all time.
Thursday’s Mexico against France game on Univision drew 5.8 million viewers. When combined with ESPN’s audience number for that game, the total viewing audience was approximately 8 million. Thursday’s 5.8 million audience on Univision&nbsp;topped the previous Univision record of 5.4 million for the game between Mexico and South Africa that opened the 2010 World Cup.
So far, through Thursday, Univision is averaging 2.3 million viewers for the 2010 World Cup, up 13% from 2006.
Meanwhile, Friday’s United States’ 2-2 draw with Slovenia drew 5.2 million viewers. Only Germany vs Italy in 2006 (5.85 million) and United States vs Germany in 2002 (5.3 million) drew more viewers. During the 2006 World Cup, US vs Czech Republic drew 3.8 million viewers on ESPN2 and USA vs Ghana drew 2.8 million on ESPN.
Friday’s match also ranks as the most-viewed soccer telecast ever on ESPN in households (3.9 million).
San Diego led all markets with an 8.5 rating for the match, followed by Washington, D.C. (6.4), Miami (6.2), West Palm Beach (5.9) and San Francisco (5.7).
Through Friday, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC are averaging a 1.9 U.S. rating and 2.95 million viewers for coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, up 60% and 71%, respectively, from 2006 (1.2, 1.7 mil).
At this rate, don’t be surprised if June and July of 2010 is remembered, in the future, as “the summer of soccer” especially when you consider the fact that both the France against Mexico and United States versus Slovenia games were shown on weekdays. Imagine if those games had been played on a weekend!

World Cup TV Ratings Break New Records On ESPN and Univision - World Soccer Talk

World Cup TV Ratings Break New Records On ESPN and Univision

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Sunday we reported that ESPN’s viewing numbers for the first five games of the tournament were double the number from four years ago. And now there’s more good news as the TV ratings and updated audience numbers for Saturday and Sunday’s matches add more ammunition to the argument that the 2010 World Cup is taking America by storm — especially when you consider that the England v USA game drew more viewers than each night of the first four games of the NBA Finals.
Consider the following new World Cup data points:
<ul>
<li>The TV audience for England against United States, on both ABC and Univision combined, was an astounding <a href="http:\/\/sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/2010/06/world-cup-viewership-up-big-on-espnabc.html" target="_blank">17.0 million</a>, according to <a href="http:\/\/sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/2010/06/world-cup-viewership-up-big-on-espnabc.html" target="_blank">Sports Media Watch</a>.</li>
<li>The 17.0 million USA v England viewing number is bigger than the first four games of the NBA Finals (14.1 mil, 15.7 mil, 16.0 mil and 16.4 mil). That’s quite an accomplishment considering that the first four games&nbsp;of the NBA Finals have hit a six-year high in overnight ratings, with the exception of Game 1 — which tied a six-year high. Game 5 of the NBA finals netted a <a href="http:\/\/tvbythenumbers.com/2010/06/14/tv-ratings-sunday-nba-finals-leap-tony-awards-sag/53960" target="_blank">viewing audience of 18.2 million</a>.</li>
<li>Other than the USA v England match, the highest viewing audience for a 2010 World Cup game was for the South Africa v Mexico where 5.3 million Americans watched the game on Univision. That’s the <a href="http:\/\/www.multichannel.com/article/453662-Univision_Nets_Opening_Day_World_Cup_Audience_Record.php?rssid=20062" target="_blank">largest viewing number ever for a soccer game on Univision</a>!</li>
<li>The most-watched game from Sunday was ABC’s Germany-Australia matchup – a 2.8 household rating, 3,270,000 households, and 4,657,000 viewers. Serbia-Ghana delivered a 2.3 household coverage rating, 2,248,000 households, and 3,002,000 viewers earlier in the day on ESPN, both based on fast nationals.</li>
<li>Nearly 1.3&nbsp;million viewers have viewed live and replay World Cup matches on ESPN3.com over the first&nbsp;three&nbsp;days of the tournament. That generated 73.6 million minutes of viewing&nbsp;(almost an hour per viewer). The number of minutes viewed in the opening three days is almost as many as ESPN3.com had for the entire month of June 2009.</li>
</ul>
The above World Cup viewing figures are even more impressive when you consider the time of the day the games are shown. While the NBA Finals are shown during primetime, the England against United States match was shown during a Saturday mid-afternoon time slot. Plus, the England against USA match on ABC alone drew more viewers than every game of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. And that was after the&nbsp;June 9 broadcast of the Stanley Cup Final on NBC was the most-watched NHL game in the United States in 36 years with 8.28 million viewers.
As readers of EPL Talk have noted, the impressive TV ratings for the World Cup do not factor in the hundreds of thousands of soccer fans who watched the England against United States match in sports bars, pubs, baseball stadiums and other public venues across the States on Saturday.
What are your impressions of the viewing numbers thus far? Share your questions and observations in the comments section below.

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TV Ratings

Record Ratings for ABC and Univision World Cup TV Broadcasts

TV Ratings

World Cup TV Ratings Break New Records On ESPN and Univision

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England v USA Viewing Audience Beats First 4 Games Of NBA Finals