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.
The first U.S. match on Friday night against Vietnam had a combined audience of 6.26 million.
The game on Thursday afternoon in Wellington, New Zealand, which kicked off at 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday night, averaged 6,429,000 viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched group stage telecast since Fox started covering it in 2015. Fox and Nielsen said the audience peaked at 8.45 million for the final 15 minutes.
The previous U.S. English-language Women's World Cup group stage mark was 5,337,000 in 2019 for a game against Chile.
Wednesday night's match ranks seventh in most viewers for a Women's World Cup match on Fox, ABC or ESPN. It is the third most-watched, non-final, surpassed only by the 2015 and 2019 U.S. semifinal matches.
The Spanish-language audience of 1.51 million across Telemundo, Peacock, Universo and Telemundo streaming platforms was the second-largest Women's World Cup audience regardless of round. It was just shy of the 1.55 million that viewed the 2019 final, which was also between the Americans and the Dutch.
Telemundo is a division of Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal.
Ratings for the next U.S. match on Tuesday against Portugal are likely to show a marked decrease because it will kick off at 3 a.m. EDT.
Jean Smart, Ariana Grande, Michael Keaton among hosts for “SNL” season 50
Fresh off her Emmys win, Jean Smart will kick off the landmark 50th season of "Saturday Night Live."
NBC on Thursday announced the lineup of hosts for the season, which premieres Sept. 28. Joining Smart on the first show will be Jelly Roll as the musical act. He was also at the Emmys, singing during the ceremony's in memoriam segment.
It will be Smart's first time hosting "SNL."
Comedian Nate Bargatze will host on Oct. 5, with Coldplay as the musical guest.
Ariana Grande will host Oct. 12, with musical guest Stevie Nicks.
"Beetlejuice" star Michael Keaton will host on Oct. 19, the last show before Halloween, and Billie Eilish will be that night's musical guest.
The host on Nov. 2 will be "SNL" alum John Mulaney, with breakout sensation Chappell Roan as the music guest.
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