« Reply #149 on: August 28, 2023, 08:34:41 PM »
The US game against Netherlands was the most watched game in the women's group stage ever in the US. Viewership was way up for the 1st game against Vietnam. Those 2 games were watchable on both coasts in the US though. The games against Portugal and Sweden were in the middle of the night on both coasts and thus viewership was way down. And Americans generally don't watch international competiton soccer unless Americans are playing, plus the games were the middle of the night, so of course overall viewership was down overall for the other tourney games.
I think the missed opportunity was that they didn't advance. They started with a good rhythm, despite the tough times and right wingers hatorade but losing right away lost all steam going forward. I think if they kept it going, especially at primetime (those 9pm games), then they could have hit 10m viewers.
The 2015 finale was viewed by 24.5 million Americans. Given that none of the group stage games that year were watched as much as the game against the Dutch this year, I think the numbers would have been just fine if they played in the 10 pm eastern slot, especially on the weekend. Not winning the group really hurt that, because the Dutch ended up playing at 10 pm Saturday night while the US was regulated to the middle of the night early Sunday against the tougher opponent.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2023, 08:41:33 PM by Moranis »
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