An Analysis of U.S. Viewership of the FIFA Women’s World Cup from 2015 to 2023

With Netflix securing the exclusive U.S. rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for 2027 and 2031, here’s a breakdown of previous TV and streaming viewership in 2023, 2019 and 2015.

⚽ 𝗜𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯, the Women’s World Cup stage match, in which the United States tied with the Netherlands, 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝟲.𝟰 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 on FOX. It was the most-watched game in 2023 since the U.S. Women’s Team was knocked out in round 16, resulting in the 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮.𝟮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 viewers across FOX, Telemundo, Universo and Peacock.
⚽ 𝗜𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵, the Women’s World Cup final, in which the United States beat the Netherlands, drew 𝟭𝟯.𝟵 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 on FOX and had 𝟮𝟴𝟵,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 the game (AMA). Telemundo added 1.6 million viewers.
⚽ 𝗜𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟱, the Women’s World Cup final, in which the United States beat Japan, 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝟭𝟲 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 on FOX, 𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝟮𝟯 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 and had 𝟳𝟮,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 (AMA). Telemundo added 1.2 million viewers.

Due to the different locations of the tournament, viewership is impacted by the start times. The 2023 final started at 6am ET, the 2019 final started at 11am ET, and the 2015 final began at 7pm ET.

Netflix has secured the exclusive U.S. rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for 2027 and 2031 and will include both English and Spanish telecasts. The 32-team, 64-game tournament in 2027 will be played in July in Brazil.

Some have suggested that with Netflix’s exclusive deal for the U.S. broadcast rights moving from TV to streaming, FIFA and U.S. Soccer risk losing an American audience. However, when looking at the subscriber numbers of the two, I don’t see how they came to that conclusion. At the end of the third quarter of 2024, Netflix had 66.7 million paid subscribers in the U.S. At the end of 2024, it is estimated that there will be 65-70 million pay TV households in the U.S. At the current cord-cutting rate, Netflix will have more U.S. subscribers than pay TV by 2027.

We don’t know how much Netflix paid for the rights, but the 𝗕𝗕𝗖 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 £𝟵 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗞 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗧𝗩. Last year, FIFA’s chief partnerships and media officer threatened not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the big five European countries, saying the bids were too low and “unacceptable.” Months later, the international soccer federation announced that it had agreed to extend its partnership with the European Broadcasting Union, enabling the tournament to be shown across EBU’s free-to-air-linear network across 34 European territories. The value of the deal was not disclosed.