Average viewership for the United States' Women's World Cup opener against Vietnam nearly doubled from their kick-off match in 2019, broadcaster Fox said Sunday, as a primetime time slot helped yield 5.261m viewers.
The Americans got their bid for an unprecedented three-peat off to a comfortable start as they beat World Cup newcomers Vietnam 3-0 in Auckland Saturday, with the match peaking at 6.552m watchers for the English-language broadcast.
That was a 99% increase from the 2.649m who tuned in for their 13-0 rout to open their 2019 campaign, when the match was aired mid-day on the US East Coast.
The numbers were up 59% from their 2015 equivalent match, Fox said, when the Americans kicked off against Australia in Canada around 7pm on the East Coast.
That match was aired on Fox's FS1 channel.
While this year's primetime time slot offered a clear advantage over 2019, the match competed domestically for attention with Lionel Messi's highly anticipated Major League Soccer debut.
Messi, perhaps the biggest star to sign with the top-flight North American league since David Beckham 16 years ago, scored a stoppage-time victory in front of a star-studded crowd for the match, which kicked off about an hour before the US team.
