U.S.-Ghana game Set ESPN Record

 

More than 11 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch the United States beat Ghana during a World Cup soccer match on Monday, setting a new record for soccer viewership U.S.-Ghana game , according to Nielsen.

The game was the highest-rated men's soccer match for the sports cable network. The game also set a record at Univision, the Spanish-language broadcast network, attracting 4.8 million people, which made it the most-viewed U.S. World Cup match in the network's history.

While record-setting for the individual networks, the 16million total viewership is down from the 17.3 million who saw the first U.S. match in the 2010 tournament, against England, which was shown on ABC and Univision on a Saturday afternoon. 

Four years ago, 19.7 million people watched the U.S.-Ghana match in the knockout round, which ended the United States' run in the tournament and was also shown on ABC and Univision on a Saturday afternoon.

ESPN says an additional 469,000 watched a digital stream of this year's match, a usage record for its WatchESPN app. Comparable Univision numbers were not immediately available.

 

There's a strong likelihood viewership for the next two U.S. games will eclipse the 2010 tournament, in part because the time zones in Brazil are close to those in the U.S. Games four years ago with Slovenia and Algeria, shown on ESPN and Univision in the morning hours, reached 7.5 million and 8.7 million.

Through 14 games, World Cup action on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC has averaged 4.11 million viewers, up from 3.35 million at the same juncture in 2010, Nielsen said.

ESPN's streaming viewership is up 170 percent over the last World Cup.

Nielsen does not measure people who watch the games at work or in bars.

The U.S.-Ghana game was the most viewed program on ESPN since Jan. 6, when college football's BCS National Championship pulled in 26.6 million viewers.

On Monday, the U.S. beat Ghana by a score of 2-1, snapping an eight-year losing streak against the West African country.

The United States next plays on Sunday when they take on Portugal in the Amazon city of Manaus.

While the sport of soccer has been gaining ground in the United States, it is still does not reach the level of television viewership for some other sports.

For example, the National Football League's annual Super Bowl drew in more than 111 million U.S. viewers this year.