The Matildas’ 3-1 loss to England in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Semi Final smashed TV ratings again, with over 11 million Australians tuning in to watch the game on Network Seven.
Last night’s match reached a whopping 11.15 million Aussies last night across the country, making it the highest rating TV program on record since the OzTAM audience measurement system started in 2001.
An average audience of 7.13 million viewers on Seven and 7plus, which included a national broadcast audience of 6.17 million viewers on Seven alone.
Streaming records were smashed last night as 957,000 viewers tuned in on 7Plus as well.
OzTAM doesn’t capture out-of-home viewing at pubs, live sites and clubs, along with those who tuned in Optus Sport – meaning the total number of people would be significantly higher.
As a result, the viewership number would crush the reported 8.8 million people that watched Cathy Freeman’s historic run at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
The match peaked at 6.9 million viewers on broadcast, landing a whopping 89.8% commercial audience share in total people and was the number one broadcast program last night in the entire country.
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“Australia was captivated last night as the Matildas played their hearts out and did us all
proud. Although their FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 journey ended last night, the Matildas have re-written the history books and captured the hearts and minds of the nation with a performance that is sure to inspire generations of Australians for many years to come,” Managing Director of Seven Melbourne and Head of Network Sport Lewis Martin said.
“Seven is beyond proud to have played a part in bringing Australia together around our
screens, as the Matildas’ performance captured the Australian spirit like nothing we have
seen in decades.”
This comes after the Matildas had already smashed TV ratings throughout their run to the semi final.
The previous record of 6.2 million people watching the quarter final win over France was at the time, the most watched TV sport program in a decade, but was incredibly smashed only four days later with
