Spanish-language broadcaster Univision drew a record
22.2/46 rating, or 1.7 million Hispanic households in the
U.S., for Sunday's World Cup Final, according to Richard
Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. ABC's preliminary overnight
rating for the Final was a 6.9/17. In N.Y., Univision O&O
WXTV drew a 4.9 marking its highest-rated daytime program
ever (N.Y. TIMES, 7/14). In L.A., Univision's KMEX drew a
7.3, Miami's WLTV scored a 14.0 (DAILY VARIETY, 7/14). In
Houston, KXLN earned a 5.0 (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/14).
FINAL TV NUMBERS: For the whole tournament, Univision
averaged 850,000 households per game, "easily eclipsing"
both ESPN (670,000 households) and ESPN2 (114,000). Though
ESPN's ratings fell 50% from the '94 Cup and ESPN2's fell
38%, the ratings were "considerably higher" than the two
nets' regular programming, with games rating between 33-300%
higher than usual segments in the time periods (AP, 7/14).
For all 64 games, Univision averaged a 10.9, down 10% from
'94's 11.9, while ABC, in conjunction with ESPN and ESPN2,
averaged "an unofficial" 2.7 -- down from a 5.1 in '94. ABC
Dir of Media Relations Mark Mandel: "We had realistic
ratings expectations for the World Cup, but we don't only
measure the success of the tournament by those numbers"
(N.Y. POST, 7/14). Media Buyer Paul Schulman called ABC's
6.9/17 overnight "excellent" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY,
7/14). In N.Y., Filip Bondy writes that the Cup ratings
"were much better than the soccer haters would have you
believe, once time of broadcasts is considered and Hispanic
viewers are added to the totals" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/14).
GOOOOOOAAAAL! Univision's World Cup ratings were the
net's "best showing ever against an English-language
competitor showing the same programming," according to
Michael Stroud of BROADCASTING & CABLE. The numbers were
"also a reflection of the fast-growing Hispanic audience's
power." Univision reaches "about 92%" of U.S. Hispanics
(BROADCASTING & CABLE, 7/13). VARIETY's Cynthia Littleton
examines Univision's "ad kick" from the Cup. The net "is
projected to see as much as" a 25-30% increase from its ad
rates last year, estimated at about $200M (VARIETY, 7/13).
A STAR IS BORN? Julie Foudy, who served as an ESPN
analyst during the Cup, was listed as a "Winner" in TIME's
"Winners & Losers" segment, as she "dazzles World Cup fans
with smarts and verve. A commentator is born" (TIME,
7/20)....In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes that ABC's Bob Ley
and Seamus Malin "achieved mediocrity" announcing Sunday's
Cup Final (N.Y. TIMES, 7/14).
