The U.S. women’s national team hits a record-breaking viewership of nearly 6.43 million people during their 1-1 match against the Netherlands in the group stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Fox Sports released data on Thursday, revealing that this became the most-watched group stage match in women’s World Cup history for an English-language broadcast.
The impressive viewership figure included audiences from both Fox and Fox Sports digital platforms. This match’s viewership narrowly surpassed the 6.26 million viewers who tuned in for the U.S. women’s team’s 3-0 victory over Vietnam in their first group stage match earlier this month, which aired in both English and Spanish-language television.
The majority of viewers for the dominant win over Vietnam watched the match in English, reaching 5.3 million viewers. This made it the third-largest English-language group stage match audience for the U.S. women’s World Cup, following the Wednesday match against the Netherlands and the U.S. women’s 3-0 victory over Chile in 2019, which held the previous record for the most-viewed English broadcast of a Women’s World Cup group stage match.
A contributing factor to the high viewership could be the favorable primetime airing of both of the U.S. team’s first two group stage matches at 9 p.m. EDT in the U.S. However, the upcoming women’s final group stage match against Portugal is scheduled for 3 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, which may impact viewership.
As the U.S. women’s team is a favorite to win a third consecutive Women’s World Cup, their performance against Portugal will determine their advancement to the knockout stages. A victory will secure their place, while a draw will still lead to advancement, though they may not win the group. In the event of a loss, Portugal would advance, and the U.S. team would need specific outcomes, including a Netherlands loss and a better goal differential than the Dutch team, to advance. Currently, the U.S. holds a goal differential of +3, while the Netherlands’ stands at +1.