Fox reports record audience for USWNT’s Women’s World Cup win over Australia

Vancouver, B.C. (via Fox Sports) – The U.S. Women’s National Team won its inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage match 3-1 over Australia Monday night in Winnipeg, and in so doing powered FOX Sports 1 to an historic night.

USA vs. Australia attracted 3.311 million viewers on the cable network and is the most-watched FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage match on record, beating the previous record of USA-Denmark (6/19/99), which drew 2.457 million (1991 data unavailable, according to Nielsen).

+READ: Megan Rapinoe nets two as USWNT claims top spot in Group D with 3-1 win over Australia

That audience (3.311 million) more than tripled the first U.S. match in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup (1.074 million). It’s the largest audience ever for a soccer match in the history of FOX Sports 1 (Previous record: 806,000 on 4/15/15 for the friendly between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Mexico).

USA-Australia posted 118,000 unique streams on FOX Sports GO, making it the most-streamed authenticated event ever on the app, besting the previous mark set by 2014 World Series Game 7.

Washington, D.C. led all metered markets with a 4.5 rating, followed by Baltimore (3.8), St. Louis (3.7), Hartford (3.6), San Diego (3.2), Seattle (3.1), Orlando (2.9), Sacramento (2.9), Kansas City (2.9) and Los Angeles (2.8).

Through the first eight matches of the WWC, program viewership is averaging 1.054 million vs. 598,000 in 2011, a 76 percent increase.