Fox Scores 5.5 Million Viewers For England-Croatia

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

Jordan Pickford of England stops the attempt on goal of Mario Mandzukic of Croatia in extra time during their teams' 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia semifinal match Luzhniki Stadium on July 11 in Moscow.

Jordan Pickford of England stops the attempt on goal of Mario Mandzukic of Croatia in extra time during their teams' 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia semifinal match Luzhniki Stadium on July 11 in Moscow.

Croatia’s dramatic 2-1 win over England in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal game averaged 5.5 million viewers on Fox broadcasting, the network said Thursday.

The game was off less that 1% of the audience drawn by the 2014 Netherlands-Argentina match, which drew 5.51 million viewers on ESPN, and was up 61% over the Spain-Germany match in 2010, according to network officials.

Online, the game was the most streamed World Cup semi-final match in history, with the average minute audience finishing at 830,000 for the live match.

The England-Croatia game also bested the 4.4 million viewers that tuned into Tuesday’s France-Belgium contest on Fox.

Fox on Sunday will broadcast the France-Croatia World Cup final, as well as the England-Belgium consolation game on Saturday.  

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.