Argentina Netherlands World Cup - H 2014
AP ImagesWith only two matches remaining, the World Cup is winding down with lingering momentum among viewers.
Wednesday’s Argentina victory over Netherlands outperformed the day prior’s Germany-Brazil blowout to rank as the most-watched semifinal ever on a U.S. Network. An average 6.82 million viewers tuned into the game, edging past the host country’s 7-1 loss on Tuesday by some 200,000 viewers. The match also averaged a 4.3 rating among households.
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Both games are down from the lofty highs they would have reached with the U.S. team still in the mix, but the 2014 World Cup still handedly topping the 2010 tournament. Across 62 matches on ESPN, ESPN2 and broadcast sister ABC, this year’s cup is averaging nearly 4.3 million viewers per match. That’s an improvement of 43 percent from 2010 — and 108 percent from 2006.
Over on Univision, America’s Spanish-language coverage of the match was also very high with an average 5.4 million viewers. That’s down just a shade from the Brazil-Germany match (5.6 million viewers). The network now counts total World Cup viewership through the semifinals up 38 percent from 2010 with 78 million.
Germany faces Argentina in Sunday’s final, on ABC, at 3 p.m. ET.
