Press release from Fox, June 27, 2015:

The U.S. Women’s National Team dispatched China in a rematch of the memorable 1999 Women’s World Cup Final, 1-0, last night in Ottawa, Ontario, to advance to the semifinals of the FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015 for a highly anticipated matchup with Germany, the world’s top-ranked team, on Tuesday, June 30. As has been the trend throughout the tournament, the viewership records keep falling as the stakes get higher.

USA-China Quarterfinal highlights:

• The match attracted 5.7 million viewers on FOX, a new soccer record for the network, breaking the short-lived mark set June 18 for the USA-Nigeria Group Stage match (5.0 million) by 14%, according to fast nationals issued today by Nielsen.
• The 2015 USA-China Quarterfinal is now the third most-watched women’s soccer match of all time, trailing only the USA-China 1999 Women’s World Cup Final (17,975,000) and the Japan-USA 2011 Women’s World Cup Final (13,458,000), dropping the USA-Nigeria 2015 Group Stage contest to fourth place. The Brazil-USA 1999 Women’s World Cup Semifinal drops to fifth (4.9 million), followed by USA-Sweden 2015 Women’s World Cup Group Stage (4.5 million).
• The audience for USA-China (5.7 million) is +46% better than the audience for the USA’s Quarterfinal match in 2011 vs. Brazil on ESPN (3.9 million).
• The audience began at 1.9 million viewers at 7:13 PM ET and peaked at a tournament-high 8.1 million from 9:00-9:15 PM ET. The previous peak audience for the tournament was 6.4 million, reached during the USA-Sweden Group Stage and USA-Colombia Round of 16 matches. The peak for USA-China beat the prior peak by +27% (8.1 million vs. 6.4 million).
• The match provided FOX broadcast network its highest-rated program among Adults 18-49 (2.0) since the season finale of EMPIRE on 3/18/15.
• Last night’s coverage is projected to give FOX its best Friday night in primetime since the Pac-12 Football Championship game in December 2014.
• While national ratings are not yet available, FOX research projects that the network will place first in primetime among all broadcast nets in Adults 18-34, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54.
• Top markets for USA vs. China: Kansas City (7.8), followed by St. Louis (6.7), Washington, D.C. (5.7), Austin (5.6), Greensboro (5.4), Norfolk (5.2), Atlanta, Sacramento, Tulsa and Dayton (5.1). The ratings in Kansas City and St. Louis for USA-China are the highest for any individual market in this tournament. The previous high was 6.5 set by St. Louis for USA-Nigeria Group Stage.

Germany-France Quarterfinal highlights:

• Germany and France squared off in the day’s first Quarterfinal, a contest that was decided 5-4 on penalty kicks in favor of Germany, drawing 1.7 million viewers, a tournament high for a non-USA match. England-Mexico Group Stage on 6/13 was the previous high (1.4).

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015 summary:

• The five USA matches on FOX and FOX Sports 1 have averaged 4.7 million viewers, +114% better than the 2011 tournament average through the quarterfinals (2.2 million) on ESPN.
• The 2015 tournament is averaging 1.142 million per match across all networks (FOX, FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2), +42% over 804,000 averaged on ESPN and ESPN2 through the quarterfinals in 2011.
• Top markets for all five USA matches: St. Louis (5.3), Washington, D.C. (4.8), Kansas City (4.6), Richmond (4.3), Baltimore and Milwaukee (4.1), Austin, Hartford and Norfolk (4.0) and New York (3.9).