By Ben Nicholson
June 19 – The FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada is breaking new ground and old records, indicating that the hoped-for rise in the global profile of the women’s game is becoming a reality.
In the US a record 4.5 million viewers tuned in to watch USA vs Sweden, eclipsing the previous women’s world cup group stage viewership record.
Viewership peaked at 6.4 million. Only three women’s games have had higher viewership ratings, all of which involved the USA.
There has been an overall 56% increase on the average viewership for the 2015 Women’s World Cup from the 2011 edition. To put this in perspective, the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final had 2.6 million viewers on the same broadcast network, FOX.
In Canada the results are similar. Canada vs New Zealand received 2.3 million viewers, breaking the domestic record for any FIFA Women’s World Cup Audience.
France also saw their domestic record broken as 2.2 million viewers watched their national team play Mexico and in Japan 6.1 million viewers watched their national team play Cameroon, which is a figure bettered by only the 2011 final.
Further, China has seen an increase in viewers from the 2011 edition and German matches have topped the daily viewing figures in their homeland.
Not only are viewership figures up, but also are FIFA.com FIFA Women’s World Cup section visitors. There have been 9.8 million unique visitors to the site, showing an increase of 77% in daily visitors compared to 2011.
On Facebook, 64% more people are following the FIFA Women’s World Cup page, 15% more people are following FIFA on Instagram and 53% more people on Twitter are following @FIFAWWC.
The increasing global appetite for women’s soccer has been demonstrated in the home nation itself with total attendance figures so far reaching 885,369, averaging to 24,594 per game.
The 53,058 spectators in attendance for the double header New Zealand v. Netherlands and Canada v. China set a new record for any national team playing at home in Canada.
And these figures look like they will only improve, as available quarterfinal match tickets are becoming sparse or extinct and all final tickets have already been snapped up.
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