FIFA Women’s World Cup sets TV viewing records around the world

(Via FIFA) – On the final weekend of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™, broadcasters across the globe enjoyed record audiences as viewers flocked to watch the most important match in women’s football.

It rounded off what has proven to be a watershed tournament that has seen the women’s game promoted and celebrated as never before.

In the Netherlands, an average audience of 5.481 million (34.5 per cent of the potential TV audience) watched the Oranjeleeuwinnen in their first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup Final on NPO1. An astonishing 88.0 per cent of people watching TV at the time were tuned in to the broadcast, exceeding any share recorded for a match at previous FIFA Women’s World Cups, the 2017 UEFA Women’s EURO or the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. Viewing peaked at 18:52 local time (around the final whistle) when 6.316 million people were watching. This beat the record set by the semi-final just a few days before (by 9.3 per cent), for which the audience was 5.015 million, as well as the 2017 UEFA Women’s EURO final between Netherlands and Denmark (4.111 million). It was the most-watched programme on Dutch television since the Brazil 2014 semi-final between the Netherlands and Argentina (9.058 million). (Source: NPO)

Meanwhile in the USA, the defending champions’ victory over the Netherlands aired live on Sunday morning and achieved a combined audience of 15.277 million viewers (FOX: 13.982 million, Telemundo: 1.295 million), easily the highest audience of the tournament in the USA and also the highest audience of the weekend on US television. The FOX audience beat the channel’s audience for the 2018 FIFA World Cup final (11.33 million). Across FOX digital platforms, the final had an average audience of 289,000 viewers, a 402 per cent increase on the 2015 final. (Source: FOX/Telemundo)

The France 2019 Final was shown live in Brazil at midday local time, achieving a combined audience of 19.935 million viewers across TV Globo (19.054 million), SporTV (880,724) and Bandeirantes. [NB: Audience figures from Bandeirantes not available at time of publication.] TV Globo’s share of viewing for the final was a very impressive 41.7 per cent, with the audience peaking at 21.635 million viewers. This is easily the largest ever neutral FIFA Women’s World Cup match audience in Brazil, the previous high being 6.262 million for the 2011 Sweden-Australia quarter-final. Viewership of the 2019 Final is also more than double the combined audience for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final (9.296 million viewers across Bandeirantes and SporTV), which involved Brazil and Germany. (Source: TV Globo/SporTV)

In the UK, the final attracted an average audience of 3.248 million viewers (5.4 per cent TV rating), bringing BBC1 an impressive 31.5 cent share of viewing. The audience was up by 18.6 per cent on the 2.739 million viewers for the match for third place between England and Sweden on the same channel the previous day. It became most-watched FIFA Women’s World Cup Final on record in the UK, also exceeding any audience from the previous four editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup or the 2017 UEFA Women’s EURO. The final was the second most-viewed neutral match of the tournament (behind only the primetime coverage of France v. USA with 3.833 million). (Source: BARB)

In Sweden, TV4’s coverage of England-Sweden was watched by 1.507 million viewers, by far the most-watched broadcast of the weekend on Swedish television, also with an impressive 70.5 per cent share. Together with the C More Live average audience of 93,000 viewers, the combined average audience for the match for third place was 1.600 million viewers. Sunday’s France 2019 Final on TV4 reached an average audience of 1.087 million viewers, with a 62.0 per cent share of viewing, becoming the highest neutral audience of the tournament. (Source: TV4/C More)

In the host country of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, a combined audience of 5.946 million viewers – 10.2 per cent of the potential audience – watched the final on TF1 (5.26 million, 41.2 per cent share) and Canal+ (0.686 million, 1.2 cent), making it the most-watched FIFA Women’s World Cup final on record in France. Still, the England-USA semi-final remained the highest-rated neutral match of the tournament (6.227 million). (Source: Médiamétrie)

In Germany, ARD’s live coverage of the USA v. Netherlands final achieved an average audience of 5.102 million viewers (28.0 per cent share), which was the highest neutral match audience of the tournament and 7.6 per cent greater than the 4.740 million viewers achieved by the France v. USA quarter-final (ZDF). (Source: ARD)

The FIFA Women’s World Cup final rounded off a tournament of very strong audiences in Italy, attracting a combined average audience of 1.924 million viewers (Rai2: 1.468 million, Sky Sport Serie A: 455,523 viewers). This was the third highest neutral match audience of the tournament in Italy behind 1.978 million for France v. USA and 1.935 million for England v. USA. (Source: RAI/Sky Italia)

In Spain, the Final was the highest neutral match of the tournament with an average audience of 488,516 watching on GOL. (Source: Infosys)

Live coverage of the final aired in China on CCTV 5 at 23:00 local time and achieved an average audience of 4.913 million. The broadcast delivered a share of 8.1 per cent, nearly four times the channel’s average share of viewing (2.1 per cent). This audience exceeds those achieved by any of China’s competing matches in the tournament (all airing at 24:00 or later), with the exception of their first group match against Germany (12.032 million), which aired at 20:00 local time. (Source: CCTV)

Unless specifically referenced, these figures are preliminary and do not include digital streaming or out-of-home viewing. FIFA’s final audience report, available in October 2019, will include consolidated audiences from all audited markets across all match days, as well as the global audience reach.

Audience data has been collected and reported to FIFA by Publicis Sport & Entertainment.