Record-breaking FIFA Women’s World Cup tops 750 million TV viewers

(Via FIFA) – More than 750 million television viewers watched the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015, as the FIFA’s flagship women’s competition delivered all-time record viewing figures that underlined the global success of the event in a breakthrough year for women’s football.

According to figures from FIFA and KantarSport, 764 million in-home TV viewers watched at least one minute of match action from Canada. Some 555.6 million people tuned in for at least three minutes during the competition, up more than a third on the comparable figure from the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 in Germany.

Broadcasters showed a total of 7,781 hours of coverage, a 31 percent increase on the levels of content broadcast during the 2011 competition.

+Full TV audience report from the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015

The record-breaking viewing figures for a FIFA Women’s World Cup mean that the tournament is now the second most-watched FIFA competition after the men’s FIFA World Cup. The global viewing figures are all the more impressive because of the time zones that many of the matches were played in.

An estimated 86 million people around the world watched match coverage online or on a mobile device, as viewers diversify the ways in which they consume sports content.

The Canada edition of the competition also broke a host of records for TV viewing in key markets around the world, including in the United States, France, and Japan. The Final Match between USA and Japan was the most watched football match – for both men’s and women’s football – in US history.

Key TV viewing figures for FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015

FWWC breaks all-time viewing figures, now 2nd most watched FIFA tournament after FWC
Total in-home audience reach (+1 minute): 764.0 million (no comparable data)
Total in-home audience reach (+3 minutes): 555.6 million (+36% on 2011)
Total broadcast hours: 7,781 (+31% on 2011)
USA v Japan final was most watched football match in US history