World Cup Ratings Score for ABC/ESPN

Lots of people are watching World Cup soccer, which has become a TV ratings giant in less than a week. Still, it's what people are hearing that has created more reaction than what they're watching.

Not surprisingly, Saturday's United States-England tie on ABC was the most-watched first-round World Cup match since 1994. After all the hype as well as an appropriate nationalistic curiosity, it would've been a surprise if it did not draw a big number and lots of eyeballs. With a 7.3 rating, it attracted about 13 million viewers -- and those are great numbers for almost any sporting event, especially one that airs on a Saturday afternoon in mid-June.

According the ABC/ESPN, the three-hour window for the telecast (including a one-hour pregame show) drew more than 10.7 million viewers and the telecast ranks as the fifth-most-watched soccer event ever -- behind three World Cup finals (including the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final) and a round of 16 game (United States-Brazil) in 1994 -- in the United States. All of those matches were televised on ABC.

Through five matches of World Cup coverage, ESPN and ABC were averaging 3,427,000 households and 4,937,000 viewers -- up 95 percent and 108 percent, respectively -- versus the first five games of the 2006 World Cup (1,754,000 households and 2,379,000 viewers).

“The 2010 FIFA World Cup is off to a tremendous start for ESPN,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president-content, said in a statement. “Strong viewership on television and other platforms -- including the best first round rating in 16 years -- and the overwhelmingly positive reaction we are receiving from fans demonstrate the enormous popularity of this global sports event and how ESPN is uniquely positioned to cover it.”

For soccer aficionados, that's good news -- probably opening the door for more soccer on TV, at least on the ESPN family, in the future because it's hard to imagine the numbers going down as the World Cup progresses.

The early morning weekday start times for the two remaining U.S. matches in pool play (9:30 a.m. Friday, June 18 vs. Slovenia and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 23 vs. Algeria) might not be ideal, but even if people watch in fewer numbers than for the opener the matches will still shatter ratings for typical weekday mornings. And, the remaining U.S. matches could draw ratings similar to the opener as more people jump on the once-ever-four-years soccer bandwagon.

About the only thing that has not gotten universal approval from TV viewers during the World Cup are "vuvezelas" used by soccer fans in South Africa. The plastic horns, a tradition among fans in the country, create a buzzing sound that gets picked up loud and clear by ambient microphones at the matches.

According to several ESPN sources, the topic has been discussed by network officials -- including possibly using technology to mute the sound -- but it has not been the subject of loud or regular complaints from viewers in the United States. Not surprisingly, English fans (perhaps as a product of the 1-1 tie their nation's team endured in the first round against the United States) have been a bit more vocal with their complaints.

An Associated Press report from London said the BBC had received 545 complaints from viewers and the broadcaster was working to minimize the noise during its broadcasts. In fact, the BBC is considering a service that would allow viewers to must ambient game noise and still be able to hear the commentary of announcers.

FIFA president Sepp Blattner has said the sanctioning body would not ban the vevuzela from stadiums.

By midday Tuesday, the company that provides the world feed for matches, Host Broadcast Services, said it would provide additional audio filters for the buzzing sound created by the horns.

That's a shame, because the horns are part of the atmosphere in South Africa. ESPN Radio hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic are among those who believe the sound should stay.