
Ratings Roundup: 2022 FIFA World Cup Final With Over 16.7 Million Viewers; Most Watched Mens World Cup in English-Language TV History By SVG Staff
Friday, January 6, 2023 - 8:00 am
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Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, Fox Sport's coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final became one of the most watched mens World Cup games in history, ESPN's 2022 college football playoff semifinals became one of the most watched non-New Years Day semifinals, and more.
2022 FIFA World Cup Final on FOX Scores Most-Watched Men's Telecast in English-Language History With 16,783,000 Viewers FOX Sports' celebrated coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament culminated Sunday with a storybook Final match ending that saw 16,783,000 viewers tune in across FOX and FOX Sports streaming services, delivering record-setting viewership according to Nielsen Media Research Program Ratings.
The crown jewel of the network's unrivaled portfolio of international soccer tournaments made history as Lionel Messi and Argentina's historic victory over Kylian Mbapp and France in penalties finished as the most-watched men's World Cup telecast in English-language U.S. television history, as well as the most-watched men's FIFA World Cup Final in the U.S. topping Italy vs. Brazil in 1994 (14,510,000).
Key Highlights:
2o22 FIFA WORLD CUP FINAL ON FOX AND FOX SPORTS STREAMING SERVICES
Up 47% vs. Russia 2018 Final (France vs. Croatia, Sunday morning, 11,441,000 viewers); up 19% vs. Brazil 2014 Final (Germany vs. Argentina, Sunday afternoon, 14,107,000 viewers); up 28% vs. South Africa 2010 Final (Netherlands vs. Spain, Sunday afternoon, 13,087,000 viewers)
Match peaked at 25,622,000 viewers (12:45 - 1:00 PM ET)
Top-rated available local markets: Washington, D.C. (12.1/36), New York (11.4/32), Boston (10.7/35), San Francisco (10.5/42), Austin (10.0/33)
Most-streamed World Cup match in FOX Sports history with average minute audience (AMA) of 1,281,776, up 158% vs. Russia 2018 Final (AMA: 496,081)
Third most-streamed event in FOX Sports history, after Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LIV, respectively
The historic finish on penalties powered a surge in FOX NFL Week 15 lead-in viewership. The FOX NFL single header window on Sunday scored 18,658,000 viewers ( 41% over last season's comparable window)
2o22 FIFA WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT HIGHLIGHTS
Averaged 3,588,000 viewers across 64 matches on FOX and FS1, up 30% vs. Russia 2018 (2,770,000)
The tournament amassed 2.75 billion streaming minutes across FOX Sports digital streaming
Most-streamed World Cup tournament in FOX Sports history with AMA of 287,064 up 19% vs. Russia 2018 (AMA: 242,162)
The third-place match on Saturday, Dec. 17 between Croatia and Morocco scored 3,956,000 viewers on FOX and FOX Sports streaming services, up 30% from the Russia 2018 third-place match on FOX (Belgium vs. England, Saturday morning, 3,052,000 viewers)
FOX SPORTS DIGITAL
Fueled by the Final match, FOX Sports digital scored its biggest day ever on Sunday, Dec. 18, achieving record-highs for unique visitors, live streamers, page views, short-form VOD views, and story reads across digital platforms, including the FOX Sports App and FOXSports.com.
Over the span of the tournament, FOX Sports produced over 130 live-streaming shows, pushed out over 15,000 social media posts and authored more than 700 stories around 2022 FIFA World Cup representing the team's most ambitious and successful project to date.
@FOXSOCCER ON SOCIAL MEDIA
FOX Sports' wall-to-wall World Cup coverage across @FOXSoccer social channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok drove over 1.2 billion views, up 172% vs. 2018. Powered by World Cup content, @FOXSoccer channels closed November 2022 with the most-viewed month ever for a FOX Sports social vertical with 531 million views, according to Adobe Analytics.
FOX Sports made a splash on Twitter with its dynamically integrated WORLD CUP NOW pre- and post-game show, which generated over 88.4 million views exclusively on the platform to become FOX Sports' most-viewed digital content series ever, shattering previous 2018 benchmarks according to Twitter Analytics.
WORLD CUP NOW averaged 685,000 viewers over 129 live shows, with pre- and post-game shows for the World Cup Final generating more than 5.8 million views alone. WORLD CUP NOW produced an average audience of 982,800 viewers for shows around U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) matches.
FOX SPORTS APP & FOXSPORTS.COM
FOX Sports reached 61.7 million unique visitors with World Cup content across the FOX Sports App and FOXSports.com, up 74% vs. Russia 2018, with FOXSports.com scoring 49.3 million unique visitors for tournament coverage, up 74% vs. Russia 2018 (28.3 million).
In November 2022, FOX Sports delivered its most-viewed month ever on its digital platforms fueled by its World Cup coverage with 1.4 billion views across the FOX Sports App and FOX Sports.com, up 59% vs. November 2021.
The FOX Sports App saw 9.1 million total new App installs across mobile (6.6M) and living room (2.5M), up 21% from Russia 2018 total installs. The FOX Sports App also scored its most-downloaded month ever in November 2022 with over 12.5 million downloads overall, with 2.6 million users opting to follow' the FIFA World Cup to receive personalized daily updates through mobile alerts.
Instant Classic 2022 FIFA World Cup Final Reaches More Than 10 Million Canadian Viewers on TSN, CTV, RDS and Noovo As Lionel Messi and Argentina lifted the FIFA World Cup Trophy after one of the greatest matches the beautiful game has ever seen, Sunday's 2022 FIFA World Cup Final attracted an average audience of 4.8 milli
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