USWNT Forward Alex Morgan celebrates her goal in the team's 3-1 win over France
Today, the women of the U.S. Women’s National Team have a chance to earn their third star on their jersey, the first country to achieve such an honor. But they also have the opportunity to stitch themselves in to the fabric of American sports history as their long roller-coaster ride of a journey comes to a close.
If you look at the TV ratings over the past week, the USWNT are also making history. Their 3-1 win over France on Wednesday notched a 2.6 overnight rating to match the weekend rating the U.S. pulled in their penalty-kick instant classic against Brazil four days earlier.
TVBytheNumbers.com outlines its highlights for the entire Women’s World Cup by demonstrating that, once again, ESPN’s corporate investment in the sport of soccer is paying off.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinal match between the U.S. Women’s National Team and France – a 3-1 U.S. victory in Moenchengladbach, Germany, on Wednesday, July 13 – was seen by an average of 3.35 million people, based on a 2.2 U.S. household rating on ESPN (2.57 million household impressions), making it the most-viewed weekday Women’s World Cup match in the U.S.
The match also ranked as the fourth most-viewed FIFA Women’s World Cup match ever and the second match from Germany 2011 to rank among the top five Women’s World Cup matches. The other three are from 1999 when the tournament was held in the U.S. However, the real question that is looming is whether the final for this year’s World Cup will come anywhere close to the tremendous 11.4 HH rating from the 1999 final when the Cup was hosted on American soil, and which still ranks as the #1 watched soccer event — men’s or women’s — in the U.S. As you can see in the chart below, there is a 8-point gap between the #1 and #2 ranking.
Two of the top-five most-viewed FIFA Women’s World Cup matches have taken place in the last 7 days. And it’s quite certain that there will be an new entry to that list today. My prediction is an impressive 4.2 rating — which goes along with my prediction for the final score of the World Cup final to be 4 – 2 in a goal-scoring extravaganza.
| Date |
Match |
Network |
U.S. HH RTG / HH IMPS / P2+ |
| Saturday, July 10, 1999 |
USA vs. China – Title Match |
ABC |
11.4 / 11,307,000 / 17,975,000 |
| Sunday, July 4, 1999 |
Brazil vs. USA – Semifinal |
ESPN |
2.9 / 2,879,000 / 4,924,000 |
| Sunday, July 10, 2011 |
Brazil vs. USA – Quarterfinal |
ESPN |
2.3 / 2,704,000 / 3,890,000 |
| Wednesday, July 13, 2011 |
USA vs. France – Semifinal |
ESPN |
2.2 / 2,567,000 / 3,354,000 |
| Thursday, July 1, 1999 |
USA vs. Germany – Quarterfinal |
ESPN |
1.7 / 1,667,000 / 2,627,000 |
Top 5 Most-Viewed FIFA Women’s World Cup Matches
USWNT Forward Alex Morgan celebrates her goal in the team's 3-1 win over France
Today, the women of the U.S. Women’s National Team have a chance to earn their third star on their jersey, the first country to achieve such an honor. But they also have the opportunity to stitch themselves in to the fabric of American sports history as their long roller-coaster ride of a journey comes to a close.
If you look at the TV ratings over the past week, the USWNT are also making history. Their 3-1 win over France on Wednesday notched a 2.6 overnight rating to match the weekend rating the U.S. pulled in their penalty-kick instant classic against Brazil four days earlier.
TVBytheNumbers.com outlines its highlights for the entire Women’s World Cup by demonstrating that, once again, ESPN’s corporate investment in the sport of soccer is paying off.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinal match between the U.S. Women’s National Team and France – a 3-1 U.S. victory in Moenchengladbach, Germany, on Wednesday, July 13 – was seen by an average of 3.35 million people, based on a 2.2 U.S. household rating on ESPN (2.57 million household impressions), making it the most-viewed weekday Women’s World Cup match in the U.S.
The match also ranked as the fourth most-viewed FIFA Women’s World Cup match ever and the second match from Germany 2011 to rank among the top five Women’s World Cup matches. The other three are from 1999 when the tournament was held in the U.S. However, the real question that is looming is whether the final for this year’s World Cup will come anywhere close to the tremendous 11.4 HH rating from the 1999 final when the Cup was hosted on American soil, and which still ranks as the #1 watched soccer event — men’s or women’s — in the U.S. As you can see in the chart below, there is a 8-point gap between the #1 and #2 ranking.
Two of the top-five most-viewed FIFA Women’s World Cup matches have taken place in the last 7 days. And it’s quite certain that there will be an new entry to that list today. My prediction is an impressive 4.2 rating — which goes along with my prediction for the final score of the World Cup final to be 4 – 2 in a goal-scoring extravaganza.