claret75 Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 USA games' TV ratings up 68% from 2006 U.S. television ratings for the first three 2010 FIFA World Cup games played by the American soccer team are up by 68% from four years ago, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. The USA team's matches against England, Slovenia and Algeria have averaged 11.1 million viewers on ABC, ESPN and Univision, Nielsen said, compared with the average of 6.6 million viewers that watched the 2006 squad's games with the Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana. ABC and ESPN are owned by Walt Disney Co. Privately held Univision is controlled by a consortium that includes Thomas H. Lee Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group and Saban Capital Group. The first USA World Cup game of the year, a 1-1 tie with England on June 12, remains the most-watched of the three games, with 17.1 million viewers. Against Algeria on Wednesday, the USA team won 1-0 on a dramatic injury-time goal by Landon Donovan. That match drew 8.6 million viewers. "The numbers [from these three games] are even more impressive when you consider that two of these games were played on weekday mornings, when many viewers are at work," said Stephen Master, vice president of Sports at Nielsen. "Although more people than ever chose to watch live, streaming video of the games from their computers and mobile devices, TV viewing climbed even higher." The spike in World Cup viewership comes at a time of improving ratings for big live-event programming in general. NBC saw saw powerful ratings for its Winter Olympics telecasts in February. Earlier in that month, the CBS broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV became the most-watched television program of all time, and audiences for the Golden Globe Awards and the Emmy Awards were higher on a year-over-year basis. In 1994, when Nielsen first measured World Cup viewing, the average per-game audience was 7.53 million viewers. That sample did not include Univision, which did not become part of the Nielsen sample until 2005. The 1994 final, Brazil vs. Italy, was seen by 14.5 million U.S. viewers. I football in the States keeps developing at the rate it has been over the last few years, then they'll probably be a major force in 10, 15, 20 years time. What a depressing thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they went out and didn't win a game in 2006? Their opener being against us was always going to draw viewers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 I football in the States keeps developing at the rate it has been over the last few years, then they'll probably be a major force in 10, 15, 20 years time. It's inevitable, simply due to the population of the States. Its 310 million at the moment and growing by what, 25m a decade? There are already more registered footballers in the USA than there are in England. The dominant power in World football to this point has been Brazil, and Brazil has three or four times the population of any of the other "big" football nations. If you have the resources then you have the potential to be very very strong. The US have the resources in spades, its just about applying them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC-Prideofbrum Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Capello during the Slovenia game.. Very amusing What was that thing with Pearce about!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Gods knows what he was doing half the time. Funny as **** and great to see though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted June 26, 2010 VT Supporter Share Posted June 26, 2010 Linked that in the youtube hilarity thread. The bit with Pearce is brilliant. Great to see though, any manager so into it he's throwing his arms around so violently his backroom staff are getting shoved out the way has to be commended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainer Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Didnt Milner miss his last penalty he took when playing for the U21's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milfner Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 I think he did. Get Joe Hart on, he takes a brilliant pen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Capello during the Slovenia game.. Very amusing I giggled my tits off watching that! Stuart 'Psycho' Pearce being bullied by Fabio '**** mental' Capello. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Gotta love Capello - that is pure passion on a plate!!! The man wants to win full stop!!! Loved the Stuart Pearce 'sit down, stand up' bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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