in the Group D match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 at BC Place Stadium on June 16, 2015 in Vancouver, Canada.

The group and knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup have been completed, and the field of 24 has been pared down to eight. With data still trickling in for the knockout round, we decided now would be a good time to reflect on the viewership numbers for the group stage.

Through the group stage, Fox was averaging 915,000 viewers per match, with a high of 5.043 million for the USA-Nigeria match on June 16th on Fox and a low of just 50,000 for China-New Zealand on June 15th on Fox Sports 2. Group stage viewership in 2015 was up a whopping 63% from 2011’s tournament airing on ESPN and ESPN2, though that tournament took place in Germany and the match windows started much earlier in the Eastern Time Zone than this year’s tournament. ESPN’s high match of 2011 was USA-Colombia, which averaged 1.871 million viewers, while it’s low was North Korea-Colombia, which drew 67,000 viewers.

11 group stage matches this year aired on Fox, and averaged 1.709 million viewers. Seven group stage matches aired on Fox Sports 2, and averaged 142,000 viewers. The other 18 matches of the group stage were on Fox Sports 1, and they averaged 730,000 viewers. The three US Women’s National Team matches averaged 4.282 million viewers, with two airing on Fox and one airing on Fox Sports 1. Four years ago, the USWNT averaged 1.401 million viewers, with all three matches airing on ESPN. That’s a sizable 205% increase.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole even further, Fox still comes out looking good. The Women’s World Cup is averaging 451,000 viewers for all non-USWNT matches *and* the matches that aired on Fox. Four years ago, the non-USWNT matches averaged 424,000 viewers. Not bad, Fox Sports 1 (and 2).

Any way you want to slice it, this year’s tournament has been a success for Fox Sports, and we haven’t even sunk or teeth in to the ratings past the group stage. Even if you take US-Australia out of the Fox Sports 1 ratings average, FS1 is still sitting at 579,000 viewers per match – just ahead of the average four years ago for the entire group stage on ESPN and ESPN2, with the US’s matches included. Three non-USWNT matches also cracked the one million viewer mark, and all aired on Fox – Germany/Ivory Coast, France/Colombia, and England/Mexico.

Below are the full viewership totals for all of the group stage matches, via our ratings guru Douglas Pucci.

[table id=9 /]

What does this absurd amount of data tell us?

1) The USWNT is still a massive draw. Over four million viewers on average for three matches?  A near-record audience for their knockout stage game on Fox Sports 1? That’s fantastic. Sure, it can’t hold a candle to the insane viewership numbers drawn by the men last summer on ABC, but the men’s World Cup is a much larger, more viewed event on a global (let alone national) scale than the Women’s World Cup.
2) People will watch other teams on the Fox broadcast channel. Of the 11 games to air on Fox, nine didn’t involve the USWNT. Those nine matches averaged 1.03 million viewers. Keep in mind, all of these matches aired during the daylight hours – the two US matches on Fox were the only ones to air on primetime. Those numbers are more than respectable.
3) Fox Sports 2 actually managed to draw some eyeballs. FS2 is the red-headed stepchild to FS1’s honor roll student. It’s mainly used as an overflow channel for Fox Sports programming. But the seven matches that aired on FS2 this month averaged 142,000 viewers – that is a shockingly high figure. If FS2’s reach wasn’t so limited, could that number have crept even higher? I’m pretty confident it would have. Maybe the success of the Women’s World Cup could spur Fox to get some deals done with other providers and expand the reach of Fox Sports 2.

Say what you want about the Women’s World Cup so far, but Fox Sports has to be absolutely thrilled with the way things have gone for them through the group and knockout stages.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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