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.
“Scandal” cast will reunite for online script reading for hurricane relief in western North Carolina
The cast of ABC's hit political drama "Scandal" may need to brush up on their snappy, speedy delivery known as "Scandal-pace," because they're reuniting for a good cause. Its stars including Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young will take part in a live virtual script reading on Nov. 17 to raise money for hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, fans can go online and donate to reserve a spot for the online reading. Proceeds will benefit United Way of North Carolina. Everyone who donates will be able to take part in a virtual pre-event with the cast and Shonda Rhimes will give an introduction.
Additional guest stars will also be announced. The online fundraising platform Prizeo is also holding a contest where one person who donates online via their site will be selected to read a role from the script with the actors. The winner should not worry about the "Scandal"-pace, assured Young over Zoom.
"Whomever the lucky reader is can read at whatever pace they want," she said.
Young, who played Mellie Young, the first lady and later Republican presidential nominee on "Scandal," was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She came up with the idea for the effort with a friend and took it to her fellow "Scandal" actors, who all jumped on board. Young said this is the first script reading the cast has all done together since the show ended after seven seasons in 2018.
Which episode they will be reading has not been announced yet.
Young said it's "been devastating" to see so many parts of her hometown badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina one month ago.
To research the best use for donations, Young spoke with numerous political leaders, including North... Read More