This year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup continues to attract a massive audience, becoming one of the most-watched shows in Australia. Underlining the craze for the tournament, Football Australia is understood to have hailed the competition as the most successful one in history.
Channel Seven has the broadcast rights of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. In the group league close to 9.4 million people watched Channel Seven’s coverage across all games, according to a report published by The Guardian. The article even mentions that on the streaming platform, Seven Plus, 1.3 million people have watched the tournament live.
At stadiums too, football fans have gathered in large numbers to show their support for the marquee event. FIFA has already sold more than 1.7 million tickets for the tournament. The football governing body had earlier estimated tournament sales of 1.3 million, which was later revised to 1.5 million.
Venues across Australia saw the footfall of over 30,000 fans in every match. Ticket sales were not initially up to the mark in New Zealand, the co-hosts of this year’s tournament. After the first few matches failed to attract a considerable audience, FIFA decided to give away free tickets.
According to Football Australia chief executive James Johnson, this overwhelming response will help in increasing the popularity of the sport in Australia. “To see Australia united behind this team has been inspiring. This Women’s World Cup has been a milestone for Football Australia and for women’s football in our country. We are overwhelmed by the profound impact of the tournament so far,” Johnson said, as quoted by the Guardian.
When Australia picked up a dominating 4-0 victory over Canada in their final Group B fixture, over 5.3 million supporters of the home team watched the coverage on Channel Seven, comprising broadcast and video-on-demand. It is the highest viewership among any program on this network so far this year.
With 379,000 viewers, the match became the 23rd-highest-rated programme of the night, according to VOZ, the rating aggregator. The Project, a popular show on Channel 10, only had 15,000 more viewers. Seven News which had a viewership of more than 1.5 million had the top rating.
Following the win against Canada, hosts Australia made their way into the Round of 16 as the top-ranked side of Group B. In their first knockout game, the Matildas will square off against Denmark on August 7 at the Stadium Australia in Sydney. The pre-quarterfinals game is expected to see an attendance of around 75,000 fans. The live coverage of the game may very well clock millions of viewers.