The World Cup is proving extremely popular in the U.S. this year, today breaking streaming records on the back of massive ratings success in the USMNT's previous game.
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As reported by CNET, the live streams for today's games brought 1.7 million concurrent viewers to WatchESPN--a new record for the company. U.S. vs Germany and Portugal vs Ghana were the games broadcast simultaneously, matches in the "Group of Death" that would determine who advanced to the knockout stage.
The involvement of America's national team was undoubtedly at the core of the success of these streams as ESPN's biggest market. Americans always ramp up their interest when the nation's pride is at stake, even if most don't follow the sport year-round--though interest in both the MLS and European competitions is rising quickly, arguably at an all-time high following a massive $250 million Premier League TV deal for NBC.
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The high stream traffic even caused issues for ESPN's service, which experienced some stuttering and dropping during the matches. The live numbers from major content-delivery-network operator Akamai showed a big spike during the matches, but the official numbers won't be available until tomorrow.
Even though the U.S. fell to Germany in a close match, the team has moved on following Ghana's failure to defeat Portugal. This nearly ensures the high ratings will keep on coming for ESPN and ABC--likely even increasing as the stakes grow and the tournament goes on. Belgium is set as the USA's next opponents, which represents a tough but not unwinnable draw against a young talented team.