Tournament organisers have announced that they are aiming for a worldwide audience of 2 billion, surpassing the 1.19 billion FIFA claims watched the 2019 edition of the Womens tournament. So lets have a look at how the ratings are going around the world.
Australia
The World Cup is being shown on Seven and Optus Sports in Australia, and Seven has very loudly been out there touting its figures while Optus has yet to provide any data on its viewership for the cup.
The Matildas’ opening match against Ireland in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ was an out-of-the-park hit with viewers, reaching 4.88 million people across the screens of the Seven Network. The tense game, which saw the much-loved Matildas triumph over Ireland 1-0 in front of a sold-out crowd of 76,000 at Stadium Australia, attracted an average audience of 1.93 million – 1.74 million national broadcast audience of 1.74 million viewers on Seven (including 1.23 million in the capital cities), plus another 184,000 viewers on 7plus.
VOZ later confirmed the average rating to be 1.974m average , while paytv broadcast figures are unknown.
The game peaked at 2.28 million viewers and dominated its broadcast timeslot, scoring a 47.6% commercial audience share in total people, 53.9% in 25 to 54s and 57.8% in 16 to 39s.
The Matildas match against Nigeria was watched by 1.49m viewers on 7 and 7plus, later confirmed to be 1.510m by VOZ, with paytv data unavailable.
The Matildas’ triumph over Canada in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ was a smash hit for Seven and 7plus, reaching 4.71 million Australians on broadcast and BVOD and becoming Seven’s most-watched program so far in 2023.
The game drew an average audience of 2.42 million, including a national broadcast audience of 2.16 million viewers on Seven and another 260,000 viewers on 7plus – a record for an individual event on 7plus. The game peaked at 2.68 million viewers on broadcast and dominated its broadcast timeslot, scoring a 52.3% commercial audience share in total people, 54.4% in 25 to 54s and 57.1% in 16 to 39s.
VOZ data later confirmed the average figures to 2.458m average, while paytv broadcast figures are unknown
Canada v Ireland on rated 282,000 including regional and streaming on 7plus. Again, paytv figures are unknown
Seven also reported that Swedens knockout win over the USA rated 520,000 average viewers with a peak of 810,000 during the shootout.
In Australia, 9.4 million people have watched Seven’s coverage so far across all games – not just the Matildas – with 1.3 million watching on streaming platform 7Plus by the end of the group stages. Optus Sport, the digital service which has rights to every game live, has declined to release ratings figures, but reported the tournament’s first week as the streaming platform’s largest week ever.
The Matildas’ 2-0 victory over Denmark in the knockout stages reached 6.54 million people on Seven and 7plus, with an average audience during the game of 3.56 million, making it the #1 show of the year.
The game’s average audience of 3.56 million included a national broadcast audience of 3.18 million viewers on Seven (2.29 million in the capital cities) and another 384,000 viewers on 7plus – a record for an individual event on 7plus.
Matildas v Denmark was the #1 broadcast program last night nationally and in the capital cities in all people, 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s.
The pre-game program was the #2 broadcast program nationally in 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s and #3 in all people (1.53 million broadcast viewers). The post-game program was #3 nationally in 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s and #5 in all people (1.22 million broadcast viewers).
7plus ranked #1 in BVOD viewing yesterday, with a 58.9% share.
The game peaked at 3.75 million viewers on broadcast and dominated its broadcast timeslot, scoring a 71.3% commercial audience share in total people, 74.5% in 25 to 54s and 78.5% in 16 to 39s.
So far, Seven’s coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ has reached 9.25 million broadcast viewers plus another 1.67 million on 7plus. More than 185 million minutes of content has been watched on 7plus to date.
After the group of 16 stage was complete Seven Networks broadcasts of the #WWC2023 have an aggregated average audience of 11.815m across 10 matches at an average of 1.181m per match. 9.575m have watched AUS games so far at an average of 2.394m per match. 2.24m have watched non AUS matches so far (373k ave)
Seven Network #WWC2023 Broadcasts (Optus Not Available)
- AUS/DEN 3.633m
- AUS/CAN 2.496m (CAN 539k)
- AUS/IRE 1.970m
- AUS/NIG 1.484m
- USA/SWE 520k (USA 2.52m)
- FRA/MOR 509k
- ENG/CHI 379k
- JPN/NOR 290k
- CAN/IRE 292k (CAN 769k/IRE 555k)
- NZ/NOR 259k (NZ 1m+)
- AUS Free to Air tv: 11.815m
- Data Source: VOZ
Canada
1.5 million average viewers tuned in on TSN and CTV combined to watch Canada draw 0-0 against Nigeria, which was a 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT kickoff on Thursday night.
A total of 539,200 average viewers, 169,000 in the 25-54 age demographic, watched the 4-0 defeat to Australia on TSN and CTV combined. The game, which eliminated Canada from the World Cup at the group stage for the first time in 12 years in spectacular and humbling fashion, kicked off at 6 a.m. ET / 3 a.m. PT on a Monday morning, about as hostile a start time as you could hope to avoid.
China
Fifa has confirmed that 53.9 million viewers in China watched the country’s 6-1 defeat to England during the 2023 Women’s World Cup group stages, amongst several more record viewership numbers for the tournament.
Columbia
FIFA reports a live audience of 9.01 million was recorded for their opening match against Korea. This is the biggest ever rating for a Womens World Cup match and is a 300% increase on the previous high mark.
Denmark
FIFA reports that an average audience of 203,000 tuned in for the Danes match against Haiti. This was the highest figure ever recorded for a Womens World Cup match in Denmark, and more than the combined total of ther opening two matches, with an audience share of 40.7%
FIFA reports that Denmarks knockout clash against Australia rated 299,000, with a 51% audience share. This also replaced the previous record set against Haiti.
France
5.22m viewers followed the victory (4-0) of the French team against Morocco, in the round of 16 of the World Cup on Tuesday. A peak of 5.86 million viewers was even recorded at the end of the first period. The market share amounts to 45.7% for the general public and 37.2% for women in charge of purchases under the age of fifty.
Frances clash with brazil attracted 4,290,000 viewers (36% of the market) and 3,950,000 for the match against Panama on France 2 (34.2%)
Germany
Fifa reports that Germanys match against Columbia drew an audience of 10.36m – making it the highest rating program in Germany in 2023 – of any kind, and the highest rating womens world cup match since Germany hosted in 2011.
Ireland
RTE said Ireland’s matches at the Women’s World Cup versus Australia and Canada had been the top two live events of the year-to-date on RTÉ Player.
Live coverage of the Republic of Ireland’s Women’s World Cup opening match against Australia saw an average of 511,000 television viewers watch the game on RTÉ2, equating to 77% share of viewers watching television, and 360,000 live streams on RTÉ Player.
The live coverage of Ireland’s second group match against Canada had an average of 550,600 people watching the game on RTÉ2, equating to 68.9pc share of viewers watching television, figures released by RTÉ show. Meanwhile, 234,883 viewers saw the live stream on the RTÉ Player. This was a new record as the highest watched women’s team sporting event in Irish television history.
On RTÉ Player there has been over 750,000 streams of all FIFA Women’s World Cup games in the first 7 days with the numbers continuing to grow. On RTÉ.ie the live blog with minute-by-minute updates from the match received over 430,000 views.
Japan
FIFA notes that 6.2m people watched Japan take on the Norwegian women – this is more than double the amount that watched their previous game against Spain.
Netherlands
According to FIFA, The Netherlands game against South Africa averaged 688,000 with a 93% audience share in the early hours – this as up 75% on the audience for their game against the United States with 381,000 viewers.
New Zealand
According to Fifa, more than a million viewers tuned in to the Kiwis opening match. 39.2 per cent of New Zealanders tuned in across Sky TV and various free-to-air options for the opening 1-0 win over Norway, stating it is the highest TV audience for a football match in this country for more than 20 years.
An average audience of 623,201 watched NZ takle on Switzerland – the highest FIFA womens world cup audience, beating the opening game by 32%. Sky sport report a total audience reach of 1.86m – or 38% of the population
Switzerland
In Switzerland, ratings for its draw against New Zealand came in at 440,000 average viewers, and was the most watched womens world cup match ever in Switzerland.
United Kingdom
England’s opener v Haiti attracted a peak audience of 4.2m on ITV 1 on UK television, a 39.4% audience share, for what was a 10.30am kick-off UK time. It surpassed the 3.7m peak that saw the #Lionesses‘ opening match at Euro 2022 on the BBC (an evening kick-off).
England’s dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Nigeria in the last 16 of the Fifa Women’s World Cup was watched by more than five million on BBC TV. FIFA notes that an average of 3.7m viewers tuned in for the match, with a 60% market share – a record market share for any womens wolrd cup match.
There was a peak audience of 5.2m on BBC One and an additional 2.6m streams across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport Online, as the match coverage received the highest viewing figures of the competition so far in the UK. FIFA reports that this is the highest peak of the tournament to date.
United States
6.43 million people tuned in to the U.S. women’s national team’s 1-1 draw against the Netherlands , making it the most-watched group stage match in women’s FIFA World Cup history for an English-language broadcast, according to data released Thursday by Fox Sports.
The United States’ 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in the Women’s World Cup drew 7.93 million viewers, making it the largest combined English- and Spanish-language audience for a group stage match involving the American women. Fox and Nielsen said the audience peaked at 8.45 million for the final 15 minutes.
6.26 million viewers tuned in for the U.S. women’s team 3-0 victory over Vietnam in the first match of the group stages.
Both of the U.S. team’s first two group stage matches were aired in primetime in the U.S., with both matches airing at 9 p.m. EDT, which likely provided a jolt in viewership.
The Canada-Nigeria match averaged a 0.7 and 1.23 million on FOX — up 6% compared to an average of 1.16 million for non-U.S. group stage matches in 2019.
The Argentina-South Africa FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage match averaged 887,000 viewers on FS1, trailing only Brazil-South Korea in 2015 (965K) as the most-watched non-U.S. group stage match ever on the network. It also ranks second for this year’s tournament (excluding U.S. matches) behind only Canada-Nigeria on FOX on the opening night of play.
Earlier in the week, Colombia-Brazil averaged 661,000 on FS1 Monday night. Both matches outperformed the network’s 2019 average for non-U.S. group stage windows (449K).
The Tuesday 3 AM ET United States-Portugal FIFA Women’s World Cup match averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.35 million viewers on FOX, marking the network’s largest-ever audience in that timeslot. As one would expect given the timeslot, viewership was far lower than the first two USWNT group play matches, which averaged 6.43 and 5.26 million.
The scoreless draw, which peaked with 1.73 million viewers from 4:45-5 AM ET, ranks as the least-watched USWNT World Cup match since a 2011 group play matchup against Sweden on ESPN (1.26M). Even with a sharply-lower audience on Tuesday, the three USWNT group stage matches averaged 4.3 million viewers on FOX — up 11% from 2019 (3.91M) and the largest group stage average on record. The previous record was 4.28 million in 2015, when the tournament took place in North America and all three matches aired in primetime (though one was carried by FS1).
Sunday’s Sweden-United States FIFA Women’s World Cup round of 16 match averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.52 million viewers on FOX, down 20% from U.S.-Spain on FS1 in 2019 (3.15M). The Swedes’ extra-time win — which marked the earliest World Cup defeat in the history of the USWNT — peaked with 4.07 million viewers from 7:30-7:45 AM.
Overall, two of the four USWNT matches began in the overnight or early morning hours. Nevertheless, the team’s matches averaged 3.80 million viewers on FOX — up 2% from its first four matches in 2019 (3.73M). Keep in mind that the addition of out-of-home viewing (which was not tracked in 2019 or prior years) would likely account for the increase.
Spain v Netherlands n FOX averaged 1.777m from 8:45-midnight ET and a further 815,000 on Telemundo
Vietnam
In their first ever World Cup match, the women averaged 1.6m viewers on television and was the highest audience ever recorded for a Womens World Cup game, garnering a 29% audience share.
