Matildas win over Canada smashes viewer record
The Matildas’ crucial victory against Canada in the FIFA Women’s World Cup has broken another historic ratings record, with more than 2 million viewers watching a female team sports match for the first time.
More than 2.4 million Australians watched the Matildas defeat the Olympic champions and progress to the next round of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which was aired on Channel Seven and its online video service 7Plus.
Mary Fowler, Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord of the Matildas celebrate during the team’s match against Canada on Monday night. Eddie Jim.
That was despite the match competing for eyeballs against the Australian cricket team, who were undergoing a historic run chase in an attempt to win the Ashes (rather than retain) on Channel Nine. Nine owns The Australian Financial Review.
The 4-0 win over the Olympic champions marks the first time a women’s sports event has averaged more than 2 million viewers on television. Total reach – anyone who watches one minute of content on television or 15 seconds online – was 4.7 million, making it Seven’s most-watched program so far in 2023.
More than a tenth of the viewers – 260,000 – came from Seven’s online video service, 7Plus. These figures are in addition to the 27,706 people who attended the match in Melbourne and do not account for audiences from host broadcast partner, Optus Sport, which requires a subscription and does not publicly disclose ratings data.
Dr Hunter Fujak, sports managing professor at Deakin University, said Seven would be relieved the Matildas kept Australia’s campaign for the championship alive.
“[A loss] wouldn’t have been super damaging for Optus because their model works off subscribers. For Seven, a ratings-driven business, it would have had a
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