Ratings Roundup: Large Viewership of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Surges Into Quarterfinals

Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, the final ratings of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup group stages drinkle in, Telemundo Deportes enjoys a busy summer of ratings with the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Copa America, the WNBA continues its ratings rise through their fourth game, and Univision rides massive Mexico-Cuba wave during the Gold Cup.

France’s Extra Time Win Further Pushes Ratings Spike for Fox Sports
The host nation defeated Brazil 2-1 in extra tim and earned a 2.3/6 metered market rating, which is up +53% from 2015 non-U.S. elimination matches on Fox.

In another Round of 16 matchup, England’s 3-0 victory over Cameroon up +52% from Round of 16 non-U.S. matches on FS1 in 2015

Telemundo Gains Additional Momentum During FIFA Women’s World Cup and Copa America
Telemundo Deportes’ Summer of Soccer presentation delivered audience milestones for Telemundo and record-setting metrics for Telemundo Digital, according to official national data from Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

Headlined by four weekend matches apiece in the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Copa America, Telemundo averaged 667,000 Total Day (6 a.m.-2 a.m.) viewers – marking the network’s best weekend viewership since July 14-15 of last year, which featured the FIFA World Cup Russia championship and third-place matches.

In addition, Telemundo’s Total Day weekend viewership dominated Spanish-language television, topping Univision (526,000) by 27%.

Telemundo Deportes’ digital Summer of Soccer presentation has also posted strong results, delivering nearly 21 million streaming minutes and the most combined live streams since the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Telemundo’s FIFA Women’s World Cup live streams have already surpassed the 2015 event by 76%, with viewers streaming 10.2 million minutes of Women’s World Cup – nearly doubling the full 2015 tournament (5.2 million).

Compared to 2015 group stage matches, Telemundo Deportes wraps up the group stage with 50% growth

For the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup France, Telemundo Deportes’ coverage delivered strong numbers in the Group Stage, based on data from Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Through the 36 Group Stage matches that aired across Telemundo, Universo and Telemundo Deportes and NBC Sports app, the network scored a Total Audience Delivery average of 194,000 viewers – a 50% increase from the 2015 Group Stage average of 129,000 (excluding 2015 Mexico matches, as that team didn’t qualify for this year’s event).

Yesterday’s USA vs. Sweden scored a Total Audience Delivery average of 422,000 viewers. The match reached 1.1 million viewers.

On the digital front, USA vs. Sweden set the Telemundo record as the most live streamed Women’s World Cup match in network history, surpassing the previous high by 42% (USA vs. Thailand on June 11.) The game was the #1 most social Spanish-language sports event of the day.

Digital live streams through Group Stage were double (+103%) that of the entire 2015 group stage total – excluding matches that were shown only on digital platforms in 2015.

Top Women’s World Cup matches in the Group Stage include:

• USA vs. Chile (6/16): 833,000
• USA vs. Thailand (6/11): 486,000
• England vs. Scotland (6/9):472,000
• England vs. Argentina (6/14): 435,000
• Sweden vs. USA (6/20): 422,000

Fourth WNBA Game Shows Increase from Last Year
ABC’s presentation of the Seattle Storm vs. Connecticut Sun on Sunday, June 16, was up 129% from last year’s fourth game on ESPN2, according to Nielsen. The key sales demo (P18-49) is up 30% year-over-year with female viewership currently up 189% and P2-17 up 83%.

Sunday’s match averaged 471,000 viewers and the first four games of the season across ABC and ESPN2 averaged 426,000 viewers. Viewership has increased by 74% from last year’s coverage at this time of the season (245,000 viewers, ESPN2).

Mexico-Cuba Match Battle in the Gold Cup
The matchup between Mexico and Cuba delivered 1.9 million total viewers 2+, according to Nielsen; as for the demos, it delivered results in adults 18-49 (931,000) and adults 18-34 (395,000).

The sports event also drove Univision to a first-place finish on Spanish-language television with double-digit audience advantages over Telemundo.

Univision also finished ahead of The CW in primetime with 1.1 million total viewers 2+, 459,000 adults 18-49 and 192,000 Adults 18-34, marking the 38th consecutive week it has beaten the English-language network since the start of the 2018/2019 season.

Univision also outperformed one or more of the English-language broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox) on every night last week among adults 18-34 and on four out of seven nights among adults 18-49, it said.

With continued live coverage of the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, Univision finished ahead of CBS and The CW on Sunday night. Airing from 8:01 to 10:30 pm, the matchup between Costa Rica and Nicaragua drew in 821,000 total viewers 2+, and positioned Univision as the No 1 Spanish-language network in the time period, outperforming Telemundo by 18% among total viewers 2+.