The United States Women’s National Team is out of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and viewership data is in for the team’s early morning loss to Sweden.
Per Fox Sports, 2.52 million people tuned in to the match on Fox, which kicked off at 5 a.m. ET on Sunday.
The @USWNT loss to Sweden early Sunday morning in the @FIFAWWC Round of 16 delivered 2,515,000 viewers on FOX
⛰️ Match peaked at 4,072,000 viewers between 7:30 and 7:45 AM ET
🔝 Top available markets: Washington DC, 3.2/30; Austin, 2.4/35; Baltimore, 2.3/18; Detroit, 2.1/17;… pic.twitter.com/DrdGkEu5Ek
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) August 7, 2023
That audience is lower than the USWNT’s group stage win over Vietnam and the draw against the Netherlands, which both aired in the evening stateside. However, it’s nearly twice as high as the 2 a.m. ET match with Portugal, which averaged just 1.354 million viewers.
Overall, the four USWNT matches averaged 3.80 million viewers on Fox, up a tick from the first four matches in 2019, which averaged 3.73 million.
For all of the talk about the USWNT being arrogant or unlikeable, viewership for the team’s matches was great when they aired during the country’s non-sleeping hours. Fox’s audiences for the matches not involving the USWNT have not been impressive, and with the USWNT out of the picture earlier than expected, we’re probably not going to hear much about the rest of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup from the non-sports media.
Fox is in a tough place for the rest of this tournament, given how much time and effort was spent marketing the USWNT. When the USMNT crashed out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup last year, Fox could at least lean on the global megastars still competing in the tournament, like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Cristiano Ronaldo. While there are still plenty of stars left in this summer’s tournament, none have the global appeal and pull that helped carried Fox to jaw-dropping viewership during the final stages of last fall’s tournament.
