The United States Women’s National Team was dominant in its first game of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. While many enjoyed the 3-0 win over Vietnam from their seats in New Zealand, an even larger audience was watching on television.
The USWNT are the reigning back-to-back champions of the Women’s World Cup, winning in 2015 and ’19. As they attempt to go for a three-peat, establishing themselves as one of the best national teams in the history of the United States, support for the team is exploding.
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Because the World Cup is being played in New Zealand and Australia, many games are broadcasted before 7 AM on the East Coast in the United States. However, FIFA and Fox have put the USWNT’s games on in the evening. If the first match against Vietnam is any indication of what’s to come, the World Cup will be the most popular thing on television this summer.
According to Fox Sports, the United States vs Vietnam match averaged 5.261 million viewers on Friday night. It was the second-most watched Group Stage telecast ever on English television. It only trails a 2019 game between USA and Chile (5.337 million).
It’s a significant increase from the equivalent match for France broadcasted on Fox in 2019 and surpasses the USWNT’s Group Stage game against Thailand in 2019 (2.649 million). Furthermore, Friday’s telecast peaked at 6.552 million viewers.
The next USWNT game is on Wednesday when they face the Netherlands at 9 PM ET on FOX. Based on the early national support shown for the club this year and the current World Cup odds, the USWNT will be responsible for tens of millions of viewers tuning into Fox in the weeks ahead.
