Many questions circled around the unusually timed 2022 World Cup and what it would mean for television ratings. FOX Sports saw a gigantic increase in ratings for this tournament’s opener compared to 2018.
FS1 and Telemundo combined for an audience of 7.23 million viewers for the Ecuador-Qatar opening match. That is a 128% increase from the Russia-Saudi Arabia match that opened the 2018 event.
FS1 and FOX Sports streams accounted for 3.23 million viewers for the English-language broadcast of the opener. That number was 1.72 million in Russia four years ago.
The broadcast on FS1 topped 43 of the 48 games from the group stage of the 2018 tournament.
In 2018, the event began in June with a 10:30 ET start. This year, the tournament got underway on a Saturday at 1:00 PM ET.
“This year, the tournament got underway on a Saturday at 1:00 PM ET.”
Actually, no, the tournament’s first game was on Sunday, not Saturday, and at 11:00 AM ET, not 1:00 PM.
Did you check your facts before publishing this?