Ratings Roundup: 2018 FIFA World Cup Roars Into Knockout Stages, Double Dose of Penalty Kicks Headline Next Round By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor
Thursday, July 5, 2018 - 4:57 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, the knockout stages of the 2018 FIFA World Cup began with the Round of 16, the numbers from the remaining Group Stage games are finalized, the WNBA had a successful night on ESPN2, NASCAR on NBC noticed a boost from the 2017 race at Chicagoland, the Atlanta Braves break a five-year-old mark, and ESPN captures continual improvement in the second quarter of 2018.
2018 FIFA World Cup Knockout Stages Come With Major Upsets, Tremendous Numbers
The 2018 FIFA World Cup knockout stage on Fox got off to a scorching start, as French teenager Kylian Mbappe ran past Lionel Messi's Argentina and Edinson Cavani's Uruguay defeated Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal. Uruguay's 2-1 win over Portugal drew 5,879,000 viewers on Fox and is the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in the U.S. since the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final on Fox.
Uruguay-Portugal is the most-watched English-language men's soccer telecast in the U.S. since the 2014 World Cup Final, and drew a combined viewership of 6,162,000 on Fox and streaming sources. Viewership on Fox (5,879,000) is up 13% over the corresponding 2014 match (vs. 5,194,000 for Colombia-Uruguay) and peaked at 7,070,000 viewers from 3:30-3:45 PM ET.
Earlier in the day, France's 4-3 win over Argentina delivered 4,975,000 on Fox and streaming sources. With viewership of 4,690,000 on the Fox broadcast network, the match is up 63% over the equivalent match for the 2010 World Cup, which was played in a comparable time zone (vs. 2,881,000 for Uruguay vs. South Korea) and up 54% from the comparable match in 2006 (vs. 3,046,000 for Germany-Sweden). France-Argentina peaked from 11:45 AM-12:00 PM ET with 6,172,000 viewers.
2018 FIFA World Cup matches on Fox and FS1 now account for three of the four most-watched English-language men's soccer telecasts in the U.S. since the 2014 World Cup Final:
Uruguay vs. Portugal - 5,879,000 on Fox
France vs. Argentina - 4,690,000 on Fox
Brazil vs. Switzerland - 4,147,000 on FS1
Fox streaming services delivered an average minute audience of 283,000 yesterday, a 55% increase over the 2018 Group Stage average. Following match action, FIFA World Cup Now hosted by Rachel Bonnetta live on Twitter, had its second-best day with 381,000 views, a 30% increase over the show's Group Stage average. Overall, FIFA World Cup Now has amassed 4.8 million views.
A pair of Knockout Stage matches that needed penalty kicks to determine a winner led Fox Sports to a huge day of 2018 FIFA World Cup viewership on Sunday. Capping an exciting day of action on the pitch, Croatia's nail-biting win over Denmark drew 5,912,000 viewers on Fox, the network's most-watched match of the 2018 World Cup, and the most-watched English-language men's soccer match in the U.S. since the 2014 World Cup Final.
Viewership for Croatia vs. Denmark is up 0.3% over the corresponding 2014 World Cup match (vs. 5,896,000 for Costa Rica-Greece) and up 19% over the equivalent match from 2010 (vs. 4,956,000 for Argentina-Mexico). The match is also up a massive 115% compared to the 2006 equivalent (vs. 2,754,000 for Portugal-Netherlands). Croatia vs. Denmark attracted an average minute audience of 250,000 and 846,000 unique streamers, delivering a combined 6,162,000 viewers on the Fox broadcast network and streaming sources. On Fox, the matched peaked at 7,587,000 viewers from 4:30-4:45 PM ET.
Earlier in the day, Russia's win over Spain, the biggest upset ever in a World Cup knockout phase, drew 5,116,000 viewers on Fox, the network's fourth most-watched match of the tournament, despite airing in the early window. Spain vs. Russia is up 36% over the comparable match from the 2010 World Cup, which aired in a similar time zone (vs. 3,756,000 for Germany-England) and up 29% over the comparable match from 2006 (vs. 3,973,000 for England-Ecuador). With an average minute audience of 260,000 and 910,000 unique streamers, the match drew a combined 5,376,000 viewers on the FOX broadcast network and streaming sources, peaking at 5,513,000 viewers on FOX from 12:30-12:45 PM ET.
Buoyed by extra time and penalty kicks in both matches, Fox Sports had its best day of the tournament in live streaming minutes per match with 50.4 million live minutes streamed in each game. Even when ranked among days with four matches, yesterday's streaming performance ranked fourth overall among the 17 matchdays.
The Fox Sports Monday FIFA World Cup lineup may have impacted office productivity across the United States, as Brazil's 2-0 Knockout Stage victory over Mexico was the most-streamed match of the tournament to-date. With an average-minute audience of 538,000 and 1.4 million unique streamers, the match set a record for Fox Sports authenticated streaming.
Monday was the best day ever for Fox Sports authenticated streaming with 159 million minutes and 2 million unique streamers across all sports, up 13% in minutes and 14% in streamers over the previous high on June 27 (140 million minutes, 1.8 million streamers), which was Matchday 14 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. World Cup viewing drove 94% of Monday's streaming consumption (150 million minutes, 1.9 million streamers).
On television, Brazil-Mexico delivered 4,181,000 viewers, peaking at 5,373,000. The victory by Brazil was up 65% over 2014's corresponding Round of 16 match (France-Nigeria, 2,527,000), 161% over 2010's Netherlands-Slovakia contest (1,601,000) and 140% over 2006's Italy-Au
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Ratings Roundup: 2018 FIFA World Cup Roars Into Knockout Stages, Double Dose of Penalty Kicks Headline Next Round By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor 
