Grabbing a widely unexpected World Cup victory over Colombia from assumed certain defeat with a stirring penalty shootout goal from Eric Dier, England’s elevation to the quarter-finals of the 2018 IFA tournament yesterday is bringing almost as much celebration to Fox as it did to the Harry Kane led team and Albion itself.
Snagging a 3.7/11 in metered market results and 4.4 million viewers for the Rupert Murdoch-owned network, the match was a win for Fox in a World Cup that has been topping ratings expectations.
While this year’s coverage is still down overall from the U.S.A. participating 2014 World Cup, the pre-Independence Day match between our former colonial overlords and Colombia is the sixth highest in overnight ratings and the eighth most watched so far. Adding to the glory, as it went into overtime and then the penalty shootout after the game proper ended 1-1, England’s triumph is the most watched non-U.S. playing weekday Round of 16 match on any stateside net in nearly 30 years and maybe more.
Not unexpectedly, the Tuesday 11:45 AM PT starting mega-match peaked right near the end in the 2:45 – 3 PM PT period with 5.8 million tuning in.
Indicative of where the small screen is going, live events and all, England’s win is currently the second most streamed event of 2018 World Cup and the second most authenticated event of any sport in FOX Sports history. Just behind Brazil’s 2-0 win over Mexico on July 2, Tuesday’s long game saw an average minute audience of 511K and 1.5M unique streamers. With 105M total minutes streamed, the match shattered Fox’s record for the most minutes for any singular event. Sorry to say, America’s game but a soccer game topped the previous record of 99.7 million minutes held by the 2016 World Series Game 7 by a lean but noteworthy 5%.
Not forgetting that there was more than England v. Colombia on, yesterday’s 1-0 win by Sweden over Switzerland snared a 1.60 rating in the overnights and 1.7 million viewers on Fox Sports 1. Sweden and England will face off on July 7 with the winner going to the semi-final against whoever emerges on top from host Russia and Croatia’s match.
As for the exit of North America’s only representative at this year’s World Cup, Monday’s defeat of Mexico by the home of Pele was watched by 4.18 million viewers on Fox and got a 3.5/11 MM rating. Belgium’s 3-2 comeback over Japan the same day pulled in an audience of 3.5 million for the network and 3.0/9 in the overnights.
If you think any of those numbers are impressive, get ready for things to knocking it up several levels starting on July 6 when France play Uruguay and Brazil take on Belgium.
As we now enter the quarter-final round of the 2018 FIFA tournament this coming weekend, here are the Top 10 highest rated metered market matches of this World Cup so far covered on either Fox or Fox Sports 1:
1. Croatia-Denmark 4.6
2. Uruguay-Portugal 4.4
3. Germany-Sweden 4.2
4. Spain-Russia 4.1
5. France-Argentina 3.9
6. Colombia-England 3.7
7. Poland-Colombia 3.6
8. Brazil-Mexico 3.5
9. Korea Rep-Mexico 3.5
10. Belgium-Japan 3.0
And here are the not that dissimilar Top 10 coverage viewership results – again, so far:
1. Croatia vs. Denmark (FOX) 5.9M
2. Uruguay vs. Portugal (FOX) 5.87M
3. Germany vs. Sweden (FS1) 5.5M
4. Spain vs. Russia (FOX) 5.1M
5. France vs. Argentina (FOX) 4.7M
6. Korea Republic vs. Mexico (FS1) 4.5M
7. Poland vs. Colombia (FS1) 4.41M
8. Colombia vs. England (FOX) 4.4M
9. Brazil vs. Mexico (FOX) 4.2M
10. Brazil vs. Switzerland (FS1) 4.1M
See you on Friday football fans.
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