The World Cup is being seen by more and more Americans. The TV ratings on ESPN 2 have more than doubled in the first 14 games of the 2006 World Cup as compared to four years ago (2006: 1.3, 2002: 0.6).
The daytime scheduling helps more viewers to see this World Cup as compared to the 2002 WC matches which was aired in the US in the middle of the night because the tournament was held in Japan and South Korea.
This is good news for soccer fans who want to see the game progress in this country. However, there is considerable scope for improvement in soccer outreach as the NBA finals between the Heat vs Mavs in Game 2 drew an average rating of 8.0
However thanks to secondary sources of information like cellphones and PC live streams there is wider dissemination of World Cup information.
The SF Chronicle reports
A more significant cultural barometer of U.S. interest in soccer may come in the next few weeks, when Ivins said comScore plans to measure how many people are monitoring Cup matches during office hours.
Indeed, there is no quicker way into an American sports fan’s heart than by enabling them to avoid work and go online for the latest score. Surreptitiously watching the Cup at work will become easier between June 26 and July 9; that’s when anybody with a high-speed Internet connection can watch all the matches (except the ABC-broadcast contests) online for free at ESPN360.com.
For $15 a month, Verizon Wireless customers with a V-Cast-enabled phone can see video clips of the match as soon as 30 minutes after halftime. On the first day of the tournament, 29,000 video clips of the match between Germany and Costa Rica were downloaded, according to Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Heidi Flato, and that number has remained consistent through the Cup’s first few days.