Did you think ratings for the World Cup would shrivel up after the U.S. was eliminated? Think again. ESPN posted some big numbers for both of their World Cup quarterfinal matches, breaking the previous record set in 2010.

Colombia vs. Brazil on Friday, July 4th brought in an average of 6,349,000 viewers (a record-high for a quarterfinal game) while the game between the Netherlands and Costa Rica had an average of 5,791,000 viewers. These two games bested the original record holder which was a game between Argentina and Germany in 2010 which had 5,714,000 average viewers.

The World Cup has also brought in huge numbers on the digital front as well. The WatchESPN app had its issues earlier in the tournament, but it has rebounded and delivered an average of 835,000 unique viewers over the span of 59 games. That figure represents 168% growth from 2010. As for their web content, ESPN.com and ESPNFC.com are averaging 13 million and 4.4 million daily unique visitors. Those numbers reflect growth of 38% and 43%.

All in all, ESPN is enjoying big numbers in their final year of covering the tournament before it flips over to FOX. The surge in traffic to ESPN’s main site is influenced by other factors (NBA Draft, MLB regular season, NHL Draft and free agency), but it’s safe to say the World Cup has played a major role and ESPN is seeing a big return across all of their mediums.

About David Rogers

Editor for The Comeback and Contributing Editor for Awful Announcing. Lover of hockey, soccer and all things pop culture.