It turns out that people really are watching this World Cup on TV. Lots of people.
ESPN sent out a news release today with the numbers for yesterday’s England-U.S. match along with overall numbers for the first five matches of the tournament.
Green’s Gaffe pulled at 7.3 overnight rating on ABC, reaching 8.391 million households and 12.956 million viewers. That puts the match in fourth place for televised World Cup matches in the U.S.
The top five list:
- 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)
- U.S.-England, First Rd (ABC 6/12/10) 12.9 (7.3 rating)
- Italy-France, WC Final (ABC, 7/9/06) – 12.0 (7.0 rating)
The interesting thing about this is that the three matches with higher ratings were all later in the day. They all ran until at least 7 p.m. EDT. This match ended by 5:30 p.m. It’s an amazing number overall.
But here’s the more important numbers: Through the first five matches (Friday and Saturday), the broadcasts are averaging almost 3.5 million households and almost 5 million viewers. That’s about a 100 percent increase in viewership over 2006. Add to that the fact that ESPN.com has earned 34.5 million page views for World Cup content and more and 1 million hours of content on ESPN3.com.
Overall, this is excellent news. And the more that the U.S., Mexico, England and teams like Argentina are in the tournament, the better for the numbers. But one thing is clear. We’re all watching.
UPDATE: For those asking, the Wall Street Journal reported that 3.8 million watched U.S.-England in Spanish. Also, about 5.4 million watched the Mexico-South Africa match.
Oh, and it’s been a pretty good week for UF, too. At least those of us who can remember the last 36 hours.
And if ESPN3 weren’t s**t, it might draw more.
Can’t forget about Univision viewers either. Anyone seen those numbers?
i know they take it into account, but there has to be something lost in all the people watching (like some of us) in pubs. EVERY bar in NYC yesterday was packed. walking to GK’s from the subway on 72nd i mustve passed 10 places all overflowing…
@TLL: I’m sure it’s the same in all the big cities. I know Dupont Circle here was packed. See, e.g., http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/06/12/GA2010061203946.html
Good point about the pub watchers. I know yesterday The Globe was at capacity, the new place next to The Globe filled up with the overflow and a place down the street was hustling people standing outside down their joint. Gingers and Fado downtown were also at capacity.
Looking way too far ahead, makes me excited to see what numbers Brazil 2014 (and the presumably later kickoffs that go with it) can do.
@Ryan: Assuming the world’s going to make it to 2014. Such an optimist you are.
Also remember that people are watching ESPN Deportes feed in Portuguese as well !! The big missing number really is the pub scene. Remember beer advertisers are the big dollars and everyone is drinking watching the matches!
love the new layout. Go out of town for a couple days and you change the locks. literally. but it looks good.
here in San Diego, i headed over to Shakespeare’s Pub yesterday to see the USA-England match, two and a half hours before kickoff.
the line wrapped around the block. ridiculously insanely long line. they were telling people at the end of said line that they weren’t going to get in, but there they remained. i said f**k it, and went back and saw it at home. (also surprised by the fact that USA supporters outnumbered England supporters)
Question: do commenters think that the actual advertising and hype campaign by ESPN, etc. helped contribute to the interest? In other words, are we entering into a cycle, where media fuels interest, which fuels media attention, which fuels interest, etc.? Or is this a one-off, freak accident? What’s going on?
Pretty sure that the whole US-England angle played a large role in the numbers, Anonsters. I would not imagine that next weekend’s matches will garner the same attention here in the US with lines around the block to get into a pub and the media attention that fueled the interest as well.
@TFA: I guess I meant more w/ respect to the large increase in viewers of the other matches.
@Anonsters: I think it’s a a self-sustaining cycle. We’re getting more soccer than ever on many channels. I know people who are randomly finding games on ESPN and FSN without even needing FSC. That builds the names and the ratings, which convinces ESPN to go all in, which leads to the hype, which lets people connect the one or two names they’ve seen to world class matches. And on it goes.
The question is whether it’s sustainable. The old line about the NCAA Tournament is that everybody loves a few upsets, but in the end, the fans want to see Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, Kansas and the like. So if we end up with Serbia v. Chile in the semis, watch the numbers plummet. Luckily, I don’t think that will happen. Also luckily, I think there’s a decent shot of the USMNT making the quarterfinals now If they can win the group on goal differential or something like that.
Anyway, the short answer is yes, ESPN’s hype machine definitely leads to the full bars, but it’s not done in a vacuum.
This makes me feel better about my unrealizable fantasy of opening a soccer bar.
@Goat, In Cleveland? Because I’ve always wanted to do that… I was at Fox and Hound yesterday, and saw some signs that said it was the place for World Soccer, which make me think two things: 1. Can’t say World Cup because of licensing? And 2: Where the f**k were you all domestic season?
I was in Minneapolis with my wife and downtown here was packed. Brit’s was full by 10 AM and Kieran’s was full an hour before.
I think soccer lends itself to watching in a group. Most of the childless, single people I work with were headed to bars – most knew little about soccer but wanted to party and knew this was a good chance. Also, they were making an effort to learn a little bit (i.e., knew England was the favorite).
Soccer is coming- it may be another 20-30 years, but as we get more multicultural, the US will become a big soccer nation.
@Corky: I love Brit’s. Pubs in that downtown area are expensive, tho! But I closed down Brit’s and that news bar down the street last time I was up there.
@Wac: No, I’m currently in Jesusland, VA where a soccer bar would surely fail. Also, I’m from Youngstown, not Cleveland. And I have no money. Or business acumen.
according to Neilsen:
“San Diego, Calif., was the top U.S. market for the English-language broadcast, with an 11.5 Nielsen household rating. The city also had the most viewers in the United States for the entire 2006 World Cup series. San Francisco was next, followed by Las Vegas, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City.”
http://www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/101952
so we got that goin’ for us, which is nice.
and apparently, watching the World Cup in Somalia will get you arrested – even killed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2010/7826934/World-Cup-2010-Somali-football-fans-executed-for-watching-matches.html
(but given the country, is this really that surprising?)