Despite the horrible timeslot, the United States Women’s National Team’s dour 0-0 draw with Portugal ended up with a substantial audience.
Per an announcement from Fox Sports, the match began at 3 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning averaged 1.354 million viewers.
FOX Sports scores historic overnight viewership mark with @USWNT's 0-0 Group Stage draw with Portugal in the @FIFAWWC
⚽️ Average audience: 1,354,000 viewers
⛰️ Match peak: 1,731,000 viewers (4:45 to 5:00 AM ET) #USA Next: Sunday, Aug. 6 at ⏰ 5:00 AM ET vs. Sweden pic.twitter.com/B2XrHs0Ky1— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) August 2, 2023
That’s a far cry from the viewership for the first two USWNT matches (5.261 million for the Vietnam match, 6.429 million for the Netherlands match), but each started at the far more friendly time of 10 p.m. ET. All three matches aired on Fox.
Fox Sports is touting the match as the most-watched overnight broadcast in Fox’s history, but there probably wasn’t much competition.
Despite the horrible kickoff time for the Portugal match, the USWNT’s three group-stage matches averaged 4.345 million viewers. That’s up 11% from 2019’s tournament in France, making it the most-watched FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage ever for the USWNT on English-language TV.
The next match for the USWNT takes place at another rough time. The Round of 16 match with Sweden will air on Fox this Sunday, August 6, at 5 a.m. ET. The winner will face the winner of Japan vs. Norway at the equally unpleasant time of 2:30 a.m. on Friday, August 11. It will also air on Fox.
