World Cup 2018 Ratings Soar For Fox With Ronaldo Stunner In Portugal V Spain Game

There wasn’t a lot of action on an encore filled Fox in primetime last night but things were sure kicking on the Rupert Murdoch owned network earlier in the day as Portugal and 2010 champs Spain face-off in the World Cup.

Even though it was just Day 2 of the FIFA tournament in Russia, the strong efforts of Spain’s Diego Costa and the simply stunning display by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo in what was a 3-3 tie will undoubtedly be one of the best games of the 2018 World Cup. Sure Iceland held powerhouse Argentina to a 1-1 draw today and for early risers France’s 2-1 win over Australia surely had their moments, but neither truly made jaw dropping history like the ex-Manchester United player did with three goals that showed not just soccer fans but gravity itself and history who is the boss.

Or, as former England player, Golden Boot recipient and UK TV pundit Gary Lineker said:

All of which was good news for Fox after the rather dismal results of the Russia vs. Saudi Arabia opener of this World Cup on June 14.

In the first real heavyweights match-up so far, the 11 AM PT starting Portugal vs. Spain game scored a 2.6/8 result for Fox in metered market ratings. For one, even with the time zone differences, that’s way way up to the tune of 75% from what the Russia winning opener drew. Secondly, showing that the fans are there if the marquee teams are playing, the 3-3 tie has easily proven to be the highest rated World Cup 2018 game so far stateside and helped pushed the tournament to just over a 1.5 rating in the early metrics of Fox and Fox Sports 1.

Of course, expect that Portugal vs. Spain number to be toast once the ratings for tomorrow’s 8 AM PT Germany vs. Mexico game come in. Besides the obviously affiliation for our southern neighbor many in this county have through their own heritage, with the USA out of this year’s World Cup, Mexico has become the default team for a sizable slice of American soccer fans this time round – especially as they play the 2014 champs.

RelatedBBC’s Live World Cup Feed Cuts Out During Video Technology Discussion Of France’s Win Over Australia

As for Friday’s primetime ratings, CBS and NBC went all Portugal and Spain themselves in a way with a 0.6/3 tie among adults 18-49. With a tenth rising Undercover Boss: Celebrity Edition (0.7/4) as its only original of the night, the House of Moonves won the night in viewers with 4.50 million tuning in. Like when it has an original, an encore of Blue Bloods (0.5/3) was the most watched show of Friday’s primetime with an audience of 5.07 million.

Otherwise, Quantico (0.4/2) was back down 20% after a week off for the NBA Finals and the canceled Life Sentence (0.3/4) ended its run with a 200% demo rise over its June 8 show. That latter number and the 0.3/1 that Whose Line Is It Anyway? got will definitely see some adjustment as the CW pre-empted its programming in the mega-market of NYC for MLB. NBC had MLB preemptions in the Bay Area so we may find the 0.6/3, down a tenth from last week, that Dateline pulled changing too.

What Would You Do? (0.5/3) and 20/20 (0.6/3) closed out ABC’s night.

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