US-Ghana Produced Records for ESPN, Univision

...World Cup Audience in the U.S. Is Growing
Americans are increasingly developing a taste for the "beautiful game," at least when their own team is playing.

Monday night's World Cup match between the U.S. and Ghana drew 15.9 million viewers total between the two channels carrying the game, ESPN and Univision, according to preliminary overnight Nielsen ratings. The figure set World Cup viewership records for both networks.

The ratings trounced the audience for the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup finals on Friday, which attracted 6 million TV viewers. Perhaps more surprising, the viewership numbers for the soccer game had an admirable showing against Sunday's National Basketball Association finals game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat, which attracted 17.9 million viewers.

While the viewership figures of Monday's game set World Cup records for both ESPN and Univision, the total fell short of the 24.7 million who tuned in to the World Cup final in 2010 on ABC and Univision together.

Online, where Univision Communications Inc. is streaming all of the World Cup games during the first two rounds without requiring users to "authenticate," or enter a pay-TV password, Univision's stream of the U.S. vs. Ghana game drew 1.7 million streams, making it the fourth most-watched live stream on Univision Digital to date, the company said.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC have averaged 4.1 million viewers through the first 14 matches of the World Cup, marking an increase of 23% over the 2010 World Cup, according to ESPN.

Univision's World Cup viewership is up 48% over 2010, the company said.

American football still reigns in the U.S.: This year's Super Bowl, broadcast on Fox, drew a record 111.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Fox is a unit of 21st Century Fox, which until mid-2013 was part of the same company as Wall Street Journal owner News Corp.