How do you assess the World Cup ratings? You might have heard that they are down 15% from last World Cup in 2014. That's true, but I'd argue that means they did very well.
Most importantly, the games were all played here in the morning. Last time they were in our time zone, so games were often played at more accessible times.
Also, the US wasn't in it this time. The idea that a World Cup could garner these ratings with morning games featuring zero US teams is absolutely amazing.
Thirdly, many of the games aired on FS1, which isn't even available on all cable outlets. The World Cup set ratings records on that channel. The games that aired on the Fox network also did well. The Final game was the highest rated soccer game on Fox since the Women's World Cup Final in 2015--and that game featured America.
And the ratings don't include live streaming--which is a much bigger deal than it was four years ago.
Here's a full analysis on Deadline Hollywood. I'd say the executives at Fox are thrilled with these numbers.
