Averaged about 10 million viewers. Pretty good for an opening round match. It is topped by the 1999 Women's World Cup final between the USA and China, still the highest rated after 11 years. Worth noting that match also was only on abc, not the Spanish channels like the modern games which air on both and get a boost.[*edit* the USA-China match that is, pretty impressive] 1. USA-China, Women's World Cup Final (7/10/1999) - 18.0 million viewers (11.4 rating) 2. Brazil-Italy, World Cup Final (7/17/1994) - 14.5 million viewers(9.5 rating) 3. USA-Brazil, World Cup Round of 16 (7/4/1994) - 13.7 million viewers (9.3 rating) 4. Italy-France, World Cup Final (7/9/2006) - 12.0 million viewers (7.0 rating) 5. USA-England, World Cup First Round (6/12/2010) - 10.8 million viewers (6.1 rating)
I know, I meant the WWC final between USA and China. Sorry it does look like I meant the US-England one.
Unless (and maybe even if) the U.S. goes on a deep run, I'm not sure I'd expect those numbers to improve much. Sure, this was an opening round match, but U.S.A vs. England was touted more and is more compelling than the U.S. vs most any other country.
Between ABC and Univision, I heard it got 17 million viewers. If the US advances to the knockout rounds, GOD MERCY
If they get into the knockout rounds, I think maybe the ratings could move up into 3rd place. Don't think it will top the 1994 world cup final and 1999 womens world cup final. MAYBE if they made it all the way...but that's a long shot.
I'm not a soccer fan. But I enjoy watching World Cup for some reason. I tuned in for that women's game. Amazing. We watched USA-England on Univision. The fact that our next game is on at 10:00am ET (I think) won't help.
