Articles

July 2, 2014
 

WORLD CUP SKEDBALL: Ratings for Final USA Match as Round of 16 Ends

Ratings for Tuesday’s ESPN matches have been added to the table below.  The 3:30 pm telecast of Belgium vs USA averaged 13,440,000 persons 2+, just behind the 13,774,000 for USA vs Portugal on Sunday June 22 at 6 pm, a much better time period.  The streaming viewership had to be around a few million,  so the audience is very hefty, and ESPN and its advertisers have to love the 6+ young male ratings on a weekday afternoon.  The 3.2 million viewers for the Argentina vs Switzerland match at 11:30 am is better than the ESPN Knockout Stage average in 2010 (2.8 million) and significantly better than the paltry 2.2 million average for the weekday 11:30 am time-period-of-death so far this year.

Also, ESPN learned its lesson and rated yesterday’s USA match telecast at the traditional 11:30 am starting point, rather than the 11:00 am start time for the previous USA match (versus Germany on Thursday, June 26).  The extra half-hour of Bob Ley’s pontificating pre-game pablum only served to diminish the telecast rating reported the next day for that match (8.2 million viewers).

World Cup 2014 — U.S. Television Ratings Total Viewers Demographic Ratings
Rank Day Date Start ET Net Match (winner listed first) Score Persons 2+ Adults 18-49 Men 18-49 Men 18-34
Most Recent Matches (including rank out of 54)
. Sat Jun 28 11:30 am ABC Brazil vs Chile 1-1 (3-2) Data coming tomorrow a.m.
. Sat Jun 28 3:30 pm ABC Colombia vs Uruguay 2-0 Data coming tomorrow a.m.
6. Sun Jun 29 11:30 am ESPN Netherlands vs Mexico 2-1 5,743,000 2.39 3.34 3.14
5. Sun Jun 29 3:30 pm ESPN Costa Rica vs Greece 1-1 (5-3) 5,896,000 2.46 3.48 3.26
31. Mon Jun 30 11:30 am ESPN France vs Nigeria 2-0 2,527,000 1.01 1.48 1.59
10. Mon Jun 30 3:30 pm ESPN Germany vs Algeria 2-1 4,306,000 1.71 2.46 2.43
24. Tue Jul 1 11:30 pm ESPN Argentina vs Switzerland 1-0 3,173,000 1.23 1.82 1.97
2. Tue Jul 1 3:30 pm ESPN Belgium vs USA 2-1 13,440,000 4.61 6.04 6.13
Averages by Tournament Stage
Jun 12-Jun 26 Group Stage (ESPN/ABC/ESPN2) 3,112,000 1.28 1.82 1.86
Jun 28-Jul 1 Knockout Stage (ESPN/ABC/ESPN2) 5,848,000 2.24 3.10 3.09
Daypart Averages to Date (USA Matches and ESPN2 Excluded)
Mon-Fri 11:30 pm ESPN 2,184,000 0.89 1.34 1.48
Mon-Fri 2:30/3:30 ESPN 2,944,000 1.20 1.79 1.97
Mon-Fri 5:30 pm ESPN 3,098,000 1.34 1.95 2.00
Sat-Sun 11:30/2:30 ESPN/ABC 4,504,000 1.86 2.60 2.43
Sat-Sun 5:30/8:30 ESPN/ABC 3,900,000 1.68 2.37 2.25
World Cup 2010 Comparisons
ESPN Averages
var June 11-July 7 ESPN All Live 2010 Matches 2,281,000 1.03 1.55 1.63
var June 11-July 7 ESPN 2010 USA Matches 5,038,000 2.19 3.14 3.34
var June 11-25 ESPN Group Stage Live Matches 2,131,000 0.97 1.47 1.57
var June 26-July 7 ESPN Knockout Stage Live Matches 2,792,000 1.21 1.79 1.85

Note: After the ABC ratings for last Saturday are posted tomorrow (Thursday) morning, the next update will come Monday with metered market overnight ratings (household ratings only) for the quarterfinal matches on Friday and Saturday (July 4 and 5).  The next update with detailed demographic ratings will come Tuesday morning, when the Friday July 4 will be released a day later than normal because of the national holiday.

 



About the Author

Mitch Metcalf
MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.