or


[07/02/14 - 12:30 PM]
USA-Belgium: Second Most-Viewed Men's Soccer Telecast Ever in U.S.
ESPN spins the numbers for Tuesday, July 1.

[via press release from ESPN]

USA-Belgium: Second Most-Viewed Men's Soccer Telecast Ever in U.S.

· Combined TV, Digital and Audio Coverage Posts Average Minute Audience of Nearly 18 Million

· ESPN Telecast Averages 16,491,000 Viewers and 9.8 HH US Rating

· Match Generates WatchESPN Viewership Records

· ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Telecasts Reach Nearly 100 Million People

· Significant Viewership Growth Over 2010 and 2006, including in All Key Demos

· Match Sets Rating Record in 20 markets; Washington, D.C.; New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles Highest-Rated Thru 56 Games

ESPN's telecast of the United States' 2-1 loss to Belgium in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday, July 1, averaged 16,491,000 viewers and a 9.8 US HH rating, making it the second most-viewed men's soccer match in the United States ever, across all networks (behind the 18,220,000 viewers and 9.6 US HH rating ESPN earned for USA vs. Portugal on June 22).

In addition, WatchESPN delivered a platform record average minute audience of 1,107,000 viewers, providing a seven percent lift to ESPN's television viewership (previous record was set for USA vs. Germany on June 26). WatchESPN also averaged 3,500,000 unique viewers and 190,200,000 minutes viewed during the match, both records for the platform.

The 2014 event has now delivered ESPN's six largest audiences for men's World Cup matches ever. Overall, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC have combined to reach more than 99,000,000 people through the first 52 matches. Additional highlights:

· ESPN's television, digital and audio coverage generated a combined average minute audience of nearly 18 million people.

· At its highest point, ESPN's telecast averaged 19,543,000 viewers and an 11.5 US HH rating from 5:30 to 6 p.m. while WatchESPN peaked at 1,500,000 concurrent users.

· ESPN's telecast is the third most-viewed soccer match - men's or women's - in the United States behind ESPN's record-setting USA vs. Portugal telecast and the 1999 Women's World Cup final (USA vs. China) on ABC (17,975,000 viewers).

Significant Television Viewership Increases Over 2010 and 2006

ESPN continues to generate its largest audiences ever for a World Cup, averaging 4,080,000 viewers and a 2.5 US HH rating for the 56 telecasts on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC combined. The 2014 coverage marks increases of 44 percent and 122 percent (vs. 2,836,000 in 2010 and 1,838,000 in 2006), and 39 percent and 92 percent (vs. 1.8 in 2010 and 1.3 in 2006), respectively.

In addition, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC have posted significant audience increases in every key people and male demographic, highlighted by double-digit growth in the 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 categories.

WatchESPN, ESPN.com and ESPNFC.Com Growth Over 2010

WatchESPN is averaging 829,000 unique viewers and 36.9 million minutes per game through the end of the round of 16, for increases of 173 percent and 176 percent, respectively.

· ESPNFC.com is also generating significant usage increases, averaging 4,700,000 daily unique visitors for a 42 percent increase over 2010 and 5,700,000 video starts per day for a 1051 percent increase.

· ESPN.com is seeing 13,500,000 average daily unique visitors (a 40 percent increase from 2010) and 12,500,000 video starts per day (up 177 percent).

· The SportsCenter app is averaging 3,800,000 daily unique visitors for a 404 percent increase over 2010

Metered Markets

New York led all markets for ESPN's USA vs. Belgium telecast with a 15.0 rating, followed by Hartford/New Haven (13.2), Washington, D.C., (12.8), Richmond (12.3), Boston (12.2), West Palm Beach (12.0), Baltimore (11.4), Cincinnati (11.4), San Diego (11.0), Columbus (10.8), Norfolk (10.8) and Orlando (10.8).

Twenty markets recorded their highest overnight rating for a World Cup match on ESPN or ESPN2 ever, including six that were among the top seven largest for the telecast: New York, Hartford/New Haven, Richmond, Boston, West Palm Beach and Baltimore. The additional 14, ordered by highest rating: Norfolk (10.8), Kansas City (10.6), Philadelphia (9.6), Raleigh/Durham (9.4), Greensboro (9.2), Tampa/St. Petersburg (9.0), Greenville (8.9), Pittsburgh (8.7), New Orleans (8.7), Birmingham (8.5), Jacksonville (8.5), Detroit (8.3), Buffalo (7.8) and Oklahoma City (6.6).

Overall, Washington, D.C., continues to lead all markets for matches on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC through the first 56 games with a 4.5 average rating, followed by New York (4.2), San Francisco (3.9), Los Angeles (3.6), San Diego (3.5), Orlando (3.5), Hartford/New Haven (3.5), Miami/Fort Lauderdale (3.4), West Palm Beach (3.4), Richmond (3.3) and Boston (3.3).

Quarterfinals Kick Off

ESPN's month-long coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup will continue with the quarterfinals, beginning Friday, July 4, with France vs. Germany (11:30 a.m. ET, ESPN2) and Brazil vs. Colombia (3:30 p.m., ESPN), followed by two matches on Saturday, July 5: Argentina vs. Belgium (11:30 a.m., ABC) and Netherlands vs. Costa Rica, 3:30 p.m., ESPN). Each quarterfinal match will also be available on ESPN3, WatchESPN or WATCH ABC, and ESPN Radio.

ESPN's comprehensive coverage of the tournament includes all 64 matches televised live on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, ESPN3 and WatchESPN, as well as 54 matches on ESPN Deportes and another 10 on ESPN Deportes+. ABC's matches will also available on WATCH ABC. Schedule.

2nd Stage - Quarterfinals

Date Time (ET) Network Matchup Site Match #

Fri 7/4 11:30 a.m. ESPN2 France vs. Germany TV: Jon Champion and Stewart Robson Radio: Ross Dyer and Shep Messing Rio de Janeiro 58 3:30 p.m. ESPN Brazil vs. Colombia TV: Ian Darke and Steve McManaman Radio: Mark Donaldson and Tommy Smyth Fortaleza 57

Sat 7/5 11:30 a.m. ABC Argentina vs. Belgium TV: Derek Rae and Kasey Keller Radio: Dyer and Messing Brasilia 60 3:30 p.m. ESPN Netherlands vs. Costa Rica TV: Adrian Healey and Alejandro Moreno Radio: JP Dellacamera and Smyth Salvador 59





  [july 2014]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[06/05/26 - 02:00 PM]
ABC's Most-Watched NBA Finals Game 1 Since 2018 with Average Audience of Nearly 17M Viewers (16.93M)
Game 1 peaked with nearly 20M viewers (19.63M) at 11 p.m. ET.

[06/05/26 - 01:23 PM]
ABC News Is No. 1 in Total Viewers on Sunday Morning, Friday Evening and in Late-Night
"20/20" stood as Friday's No. 1 program on broadcast and the No. 2 program on all of broadcast and cable in all key target demos on May 29.

[06/04/26 - 03:03 PM]
"The Mystery of Richard Simmons - A Diane Sawyer Special" Soars Over 10 Million Total Multiplatform Viewers Across ABC, Disney+ and Hulu
On its encore telecast on Monday, "The Mystery of Richard Simmons - A Diane Sawyer Special" averaged 2.704 million Total Viewers and ranked as the night's No. 1 program on broadcast.

[06/03/26 - 11:01 AM]
"Saturday Night Live" Season 51 Was #1 Among All Broadcast Comedy Series in the 18-49 Demo and #2 Among All Entertainment Series
The most-watched telecast of the season across all platforms was 10.1 million viewers on December 20 with host Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher.

[06/03/26 - 07:00 AM]
Fans Power UFL on ESPN to Significant Viewership Growth Across 10-Week Regular Season
ABC alone accounted for eight of the top 10 most-watched games.

[06/03/26 - 06:00 AM]
TNT Sports Caps Its Most Watched NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs with Its Most Watched Conference Final Ever
The record-setting series helped propel TNT Sports' overall coverage of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs to an average of 1.4 million viewers across TNT, TBS, truTV and HBO Max, up 50% from 2025 through the Conference Final.

[06/02/26 - 04:06 PM]
NBC and Peacock Deliver Most-Watched Conference Finals Game Since 2016 with 15.9 Million Viewers for Spurs-Thunder Game 7 on Saturday Night
Across 28 playoff games, NBC Sports' presentation of the 2026 NBA Playoffs averaged 7.2 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 72% versus comparable coverage last season.

[06/02/26 - 02:36 PM]
ESPN's WCWS Viewership Success Continues
Texas Tech-UCLA averaged 2.0 million viewers, with a peak of 2.6 million.

[06/02/26 - 02:13 PM]
FOX IndyCar Continues Ratings Growth with Strong Detroit Performance
Through eight races, IndyCar on FOX is averaging 2,241,000 viewers, up +12% from 2025 (2,007,000).

[06/02/26 - 02:00 PM]
FOX MLB's "Baseball Night in America" Delivers Most-Watched Baseball Telecast of the Week
2,322,000 viewers tuned-in to FOX for a two-game slate highlighted by the Cubs' 6-1 victory over the Cardinals in most of the country.

[06/02/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of May 25 - "The Boroughs" Makes Itself at Home at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Plus: "Nemesis" stole away with the No. 2 spot on the list, commanding 5.9 million views.

[06/01/26 - 11:04 AM]
ESPN Scored Most-Watched NCAA Women's College World Series Opening Thursday on Record
Arkansas-Nebraska averaged 1.4 million viewers, with a peak of 1.6 million.

[06/01/26 - 08:27 AM]
ESPN Scores Most-Viewed Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final Since 2015, The Latest Viewership Successes Headed Into the Stanley Cup Final
Across four games on ESPN, the series averaged 2.2 million viewers and was up 44% vs. the Western Conference Final last year (Edmonton vs. Dallas) which went five games on ESPN.

[05/29/26 - 03:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Newsmagazine, Leading "Dateline" in Total Viewers for the 5th Consecutive Broadcast Season
"20/20" improved on the previous season in Total Viewers (+5%/+170,000 - 3.672 million vs. 3.502 million).

[05/29/26 - 03:01 PM]
ABC News Is #1 in Total Viewers Sunday Morning and in Late-Night
"Nightline" posted double-digit gains week to week in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.