USA-Mexico - Equals Best Rating for ESPN's FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

Rivalry Boosts Current World Cup Qualifying Audience by 60 Percent vs. 2010

Last night's telecast of the 2-0 victory by the U.S. Men's National Team over archrival Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, delivered an average U.S. household rating of 1.4, matching the previous record for FIFA World Cup rating on ESPN for Mexico vs. USA on March 26, 2013, at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, according to Nielsen Media.

The telecast was seen by an average audience of 2.243 million viewers (P2+) and 1.641 million television households.

The two USA-Mexico World Cup qualifying matches for Brazil 2014 have helped boost the average rating for the current round of qualifiers on ESPN television by 60 percent compared to the last series - a 0.8 US rating for eight matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying series vs. 0.5 rating for the 2010 qualifiers.

Five Most-Viewed World Cup Qualifying or International Friendly Matches on ESPN or ESPN2:
Date Match Network HH Rating P2+ (Viewers)
Tue, March 26, 2013 Mexico vs. USA (WCQ) ESPN 1.4 2,385,000
Tue, Sept 10, 2013 USA vs. Mexico (WCQ) ESPN 1.4 2,243,000
Tue, June 12, 2013 USA vs. Panama (WCQ) ESPN 0.8 1,436,000
Wed, Feb 11, 2009 USA vs. Mexico (WCQ) ESPN2 0.7 1,191,000
Wed, May 30, 2012 USA vs. Brazil (Friendly) ESPN2 0.6 1,128,000

Columbus, Ohio, was the top market for the match telecast with a 5.1 rating. Rounding out the top 10 markets were: Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (3.3), Buffalo (3.2), Dayton, Ohio (2.8), Washington, DC (2.8), San Diego (2.7), New York (2.7), Seattle-Tacoma (2.6), San Antonio (2.5) and West Palm Beach (2.5).

ESPN Digital Media:

USA vs. Mexico were the most viewed World Cup qualifying match in 2013 to date on WatchESPN across computers, smartphones, tablets, Xbox and Apple TV with nearly 118,000 live unique viewers and 4.7 million live minutes. Additionally, on Tuesday, soccer content across digital platforms - ESPN FC, ESPN Deportes and ESPN.com online, on the mobile Web and apps - collectively logged nearly 1.9 million video starts, 14.6 million page views and 24.9 million minutes of time spent.

ESPN Deportes:

Following the USA-Mexico match, ESPN Deportes' news and information programming anchored by a special post-match edition of the critically acclaimed Futbol Picante was seen by an average Hispanic audience of 156,700 viewers (104,000 Hispanic households; 0.7 Hispanic rating) - the second highest audience for the show in 2013.

Last Friday's Futbol Picante post-match special immediately following Mexico vs. Costa Rica at Estadio Azteca set the record for most-watched edition of the program this year with 241,600 Hispanic viewers (168,500 Hispanic households; 1.1 Hispanic rating)