Ratings Roundup: 2018 FIFA World Cup Grabs the Spotlight for Telemundo, Fox Sports By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 8:00 am
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Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, Telemundo is off to a hot start in their 2018 FIFA World Cup debut, Fox Sports kicks off their coverage of the World Cup as well as the conclusion of the 2018 U.S. Open on their network, NBC Sports relishes in the victories of Justify and the Washington Capitals, the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter has continual growth, ABC wraps up broadcasts of the 2018 NBA Finals, and ESPN Deportes makes network history.
Mexico's thrilling 1-0 win over defending champion Germany brought big numbers for Telemundo.
Mexico's 1-0 Win Headlines Telemundo's Tremendous Start to 2018 FIFA World Cup
The Mexican national team had a very good Sunday with their shocker 1-0 victory over defending champion Germany in the 2018 World Cup, but Telemundo also a truly most excellent day.
Snagging a surging 6.56 million viewers for the 8 AM PT-starting Group F match, the NBCUniversal-owned network saw its best Sunday daytime audience ever with the game, which marked the most watched group stage match ever on Spanish-language TV. With the game erupting from a goal from Hirving Lozano at the 35-minute mark, the overall sets of eyeballs are also the most for any Mexico World Cup group stage match in any language on any network since the stats began being collected in 1994.
Telemundo's viewership of the Father's Day match topped the same game in English on Fox Sports 1 by 46%.
Then, there are the realities of contemporary TV consumption with streaming and other platforms. All of which, once you factor in TelemundoDeportes.com plus the Telemundo En Vivo and NBC Sports apps, pushes viewership for Mexico's first World Cup win over Germany to 7.4 million. The game was the most live-streamed event Telemundo has ever had with 1.1 million unique online viewers.
In the 9:30-9:45 AM PT slot, the game peaked at 8 million viewers. When you add the Telemundo and Fox average numbers, nearly 11 million people in the U.S. watched Sunday's game.
6.56 is just below the 6.8 million that Univision Deportes had for the Mexico-Brazil game that saw the premiere of both teams in the 2014 World Cup. However, the game four years ago was also simulcast on Univision and the numbers are a blend unlike the straight Telemundo results.
Also for Telemundo, Sunday's game is the new most watched sporting event in the net's long history.
Fox Sports Enjoys 2018 FIFA World Cup Success
Historic results and nail-biting conclusions led FS1 to record numbers on Sunday with a pair of FIFA World Cup Group Stage matches accounting for the channel's two most-watched men's soccer matches ever. Mexico's 1-0 win over defending World Cup champion Germany drew 4,002,000 viewers, only to be eclipsed later in the day by Brazil's exciting 1-1 draw with Switzerland, which attracted viewership of 4,086,000.
Through the first four days of the tournament, World Cup matches on Fox and FS1 are averaging 2,241,000 viewers, which is up 32% over the complete Group Stage average of the last four World Cups combined, excluding U.S. matches.
Led by international superstar Neymar, Brazil and Switzerland played to a 1-1 tie on Sunday in a match that began at 2:00 PM ET and delivered a combined viewership of 4,301,000 on FS1 and Fox Sports streaming sources. The television-only audience makes the match the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in the U.S. since the Euro 2016 final and is up 119% over the 2010 World Cup Group Stage average, excluding U.S. matches, and up 58% over the 2014 Group Stage average, excluding U.S. matches.
In a match that kicked off at 11:00 AM ET, Mexico captured its first ever World Cup win over Germany in thrilling fashion, delivering a combined audience of 4,254,000 on FS1 and Fox Sports streaming sources. The television-only audience is up 114% over the 2010 and up 54% over the 2014 World Cup Group Stage averages, excluding U.S. matches. With an average minute audience of 252,000 and 717,000 live streamers, the match ranks among the top 10 best-performing events all time on Fox Sports streaming services.
Through Sunday, World Cup matches on Fox and FS1 are attracting large audiences across the country. Washington D.C. leads the metered markets with an average 3.39 rating through Match Day 4, followed by Providence (2.77), Austin (2.66), New York (2.5) and Miami (2.47).
Additional digital and social highlights include:
With a lineup featuring the World Cup, U.S. Open Championship, Major League Baseball and NASCAR, Fox Sports streaming platforms enjoyed their biggest weekend since Super Bowl LI with 332 million minutes viewed from Friday through Sunday.
Over the first four days of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, viewers have consumed 288 million minutes on Fox Sports streaming services.
Led by Fox Sports social accounts, which delivered 18.1 million video views on Sunday, Match Day 4 was Fox Sports' best performing day of the tournament across digital platforms with 19 million total views, a 30%increase over the previous day.
Fox and FS1 generated the most social conversations over the weekend, led by the Germany vs. Mexico telecast on FS1, which was the most talked-about telecast of the weekend with 1.4 million social interactions.
@FoxSoccer set another daily record on Sunday with 5.4 million views on Twitter, including World Cup Now hosted by Rachel Bonnetta, beating its previous record, set on Match Day 3 by 21%.
Saturday morning's Argentina vs. Iceland match delivered an average of 2,973,000 viewers on the Fox broadcast n
