Fox Scores More Than 2.6 Million Viewers for USA-Thailand Women's World Cup Soccer Match

Fox Broadcasting scored a major ratings goal Tuesday as its telecast of the USA-Thailand FIFA Women's World Cup soccer match drew more than 2.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen. 

The game, in which the USA team won in a 13-0 blowout, averaged 2.62 million viewers, making it the most watched English-language soccer telecast in the US since last year's men's World Cup final drew 11.6 million viewers, according to Fox. 

Fox Sports executive vice president and head of programming Bill Wanger said he expects ratings for the US women to climb throughout the tournament. 

"Anytime you get a record number of goals it gets people talking and excited," said Wanger. "We expect the US women's team ratings to keep increasing as the tournament goes on."

Digitally, the game delivered the most streamed Fox sports FIFA Women's World Cup match ever with 315,000 unique streamers, according to Fox. Further, Fox Sports social platforms drew 7 million views, the most thus far for the tournament and 525% more than the daily average for the 2015 World Cup, according to Fox.

The USA-Thailand match also delivered for Spanish-language network Telemundo, which averaged 444,000 viewers for the event, more than doubling viewership for the USA team's opening match at the 2015 World Cup, according to Nielsen.  

The USA women play next on Sunday (June 16) against Chile before facing Sweden on June 20. 

R. Thomas Umstead

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.