As for ratings, ESPN opened its World Cup game slate with the Brazil/Croatia telecast on Thursday with an average 2.8 rating and 4.435 million viewers on ESPN. That rating is 49% higher than the opening match in 2010 while viewership is up 55%. The game also drew a record audience on WatchESPN, 1.1 million unique viewers and 50.1 million minutes across all streams and devices, up 132% and 172%, respectively. Top-10 metered markets: Washington, DC (5.1), Boston (5.0), Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (4.7), Los Angeles (4.6), New York (4.5), San Francisco (4.3), Hartford-New Haven (4.3), Providence (3.9), Austin (3.9) and Orlando (3.8). On Saturday, ESPN topped that as the England/Italy matchup averaged a 2.6 rating for the channel, drawing 4.62 million viewers. That would mark ESPN/ESPN2’s most-watched non-U.S. Group Stage World Cup game ever.
Around the dial, Univision Deportes’ presentation of the Brazil game topped those numbers on Thursday delivered most-viewed opening day performance in Univision Deportes history with an average of 5.1 million Total Viewers and 2.7 million Adults 18-49. The trend continued for the company during the weekend, with the most recent Nielsen numbers showing that Saturday saw the most-watched group play in Univision Deportes World Cup history, pacing ahead of its 2010 World Cup numbers by 25% among Total Viewers and 11% among Adults 18-49 through 8 matches.