USA vs Netherlands: Women's World Cup final garners larger audience than 2018 men's World Cup final
LOS ANGELES - The Women’s World Cup final that featured the U.S. beating the Netherlands 2-0 on Sunday had a larger viewing audience than the 2018 men’s World Cup final.
While it did not break the record for the most-watched Women’s World Cup game, it did bring in 20 percent more viewers than last year’s final in which the men’s French and Croatian teams battled it out on the pitch.
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Sunday’s final brought in a 10.0 household rating in overnight metered markets on FOX, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The total number of viewers came out to 15.87 million on all platforms: 13.98 million on Fox, 289,000 on streaming services and 1.6 million on Telemundo.
The 1.6 million viewers on Telemundo also made this match the most-watched Women’s World Cup game on a Spanish-language network, according to the Reporter.
Last year’s men’s final brought in an 8.3 household rating, which came out to 12.5 million viewers.
The Women’s World Cup 2015 final is still the most-watched game in WWC history in the U.S. with 25.4 million viewers on FOX, Telemundo and streaming platforms, according to the outlet.
Sunday’s game is now the third most-watched game for the Women’s World Cup. In addition to the 2015 final being the top spot, the final in 1999 came in second with 18 million.
The Hollywood Reporter also stated that the game brought in record viewership numbers in the Netherlands, with 5.5 million people watching. Of those 5.5 million, 88 percent of them watched on TV. The final also garnered big numbers in Germany, the U.K. and France, which hosted the World Cup.
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The U.S. Women’s National Team defeated the Netherlands, winning a second straight title and fourth overall for the Women’s World Cup.
When the women went up to accept the World Cup trophy, fans chanted “equal pay.” The chant comes as the USWNT will begin mediation with the U.S. Soccer Federation, the nonprofit entity that runs both national teams.
In March, the team sued the federation over equal pay and treatment.