NEW YORK - The U.S. team's game against the Czech Republic on Monday earned the highest rating (2.3) and the largest audience (2.06 million households) ever for a soccer game on ESPN2, according to Nielsen. The previous all-time high for a soccer game on ESPN2 was set during Saturday's Argentina-Ivory Coast match, which received a 1.8 rating (1.6 million households).
U.S. viewership for the FIFA World Cup on ESPN2 has more than doubled compared to previous editions of the world's biggest sporting event. For the first weekend of games on ESPN2, Nielsen reported an increase in number of households of 252 percent compared to the 1998 tournament and an increase of 191 percent compared to the first weekend of the 2002 tournament.
Prior to the first U.S. game, the five live ESPN2 telecasts during this year's opening weekend earned an average rating of 1.4 (1.2 million households) compared to a 0.5 rating (426,531 households) in 2002, when games took place in early morning hours because the tournament was held in Japan and Korea.
In 1998, when France hosted the World Cup and kickoff times were similar to those of this year's event, the first seven games on ESPN2 earned a 0.6 rating (352,686 households).
The highest-rated matches are likely to be those involving the United States, whose remaining first-round games are:
All 64 World Cup matches are being broadcast in hi-definition on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 and are produced in association with Soccer United Marketing (SUM), the sister company of Major League Soccer.
