U.S.-Netherlands Women's World Cup Match Kicks Up Viewers: This Week in Sports Ratings
Soccer, baseball, Golf and auto racing events dominate sports viewing
FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer action and auto-racing events highlighted last week's sports ratings landscape.
Fox’s July 26 coverage of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s draw against the Netherlands was the top viewed live sports event for the week of July 24-30 with an average of 6.43 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers published by SportsMedia Watch. Telemundo’s Spanish-language telecast of the match also made the top 10 most-watched events for the week with 1.16 million viewers.
According to Fox Sports, Fox averaged a record 4.3 million viewers for its three U.S. Women’s soccer team telecasts during the Group Stage event, up 19 percent from 2019.
Auto racing events secured four of the top 10 positions on the live sports viewership chart, with USA Network's July 30 live race and pre-race coverage of the NASCAR Cup series Cook Out 400 playoff event finishing third and fourth for the week, while NBC’s July 29th NASCAR Xfinity Road America 180 race and ESPN’s July 30 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix pulled into sixth and ninth place, respectively. ESPN said the 1.16 million viewers for its Belgian Grand Prix telecast was the race's largest audience on record in the U.S.
Date | Event | Network | Viewership |
July 26 | Women's World Cup (USA-Netherlands) | Fox | 6.43 million |
July 29 | Fox Saturday Baseball | Fox | 2.64 million |
July 30 | NASCAR Cup Series | USA Network | 2.43 million |
July 30 | NASCAR Cup Series (Pre-race) | USA Network | 1.86 million |
July 30 | PGA 3M Open | CBS | 1.66 million |
July 29 | NASCAR Xfinity Road America 180 | NBC | 1.56 million |
July 29 | PGA 3M Open | CBS | 1.44 million |
July 26 | ESPN Major League Baseball | ESPN | 1.20 million |
July 30 | Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix | ESPN | 1.16 million |
July 26 | Women's World Cup (USA-Netherlands) | Telemundo | 1.16 million |
Multichannel Newsletter
The smarter way to stay on top of the multichannel video marketplace. Sign up below.
R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.