On the final episode of the World Cup Buzz Podcast this week, analyst Laurence McKenna mentioned how he was looking forward to the World Cup video montages that are often created and distributed on YouTube. While more will be certainly be released in the coming days, I’ve found three which I think you’ll enjoy.

Each of them is quite different than the other. The first one is from American TV network ABC which combines video of a U2 live concert with highlights from World Cup 2010. The second is a more creative version from the BBC which is quite unique to say the least. And the third and final one is from ITV in the United Kingdom and is more commercialized but still worth watching.

So, based on these video montages, are you an ABC, BBC or ITV person?

ABC:

BBC:

ITV:

HT to The Original Winger for unearthing the ABC and BBC vids.

The 2010 World Cup Final set a new record for the most watched soccer game in U.S. history Sunday when 24.3 million people watched the Spain versus Netherlands game on ABC and Univision, according to Nielsen.

Univision drew 8.821 million viewers, while ABC drew 15.45 million viewers according to Nielsen fast-nationals.

The 2010 World Cup set another record in the United States by being the most-viewed World Cup ever on English-language TV. The 64-match World Cup averaged a 2.1 U.S. rating and 3.261 million viewers on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, up 31% in ratings and 41% in viewership from 2006 (1.6, 2.316 mil). Average viewing numbers for Univision are not yet available, but in comparison to viewing audiences for other sports, ESPN averaged 4.596 million viewers for the 2010 NBA Playoffs (ABC averaged 10.970 million for its 16-game coverage), and 4.311 million for its coverage of 2009-10 college football bowl games (ABC averaged 22.179 million for its three games).

“The 2010 FIFA World Cup was an overwhelming success for ESPN,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content. “We experienced record viewership across multiple platforms, including television, broadband, online and ESPN Audio, and it was evident from the overwhelmingly positive reaction just how much fans were drawn to the spectacle of this global sports event. We are already looking ahead with great anticipation to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.”

For Univision, this marks the most-viewed World Cup Final ever on the network and the second-most viewed World Cup match – behind Mexico/Argentina on June 27 (9.405 mil). Overall, the World Cup Final match ranks as the third-most viewed for any television program in Univision history.

UPDATE: Univision averaged 2.374 million viewers for coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, up 15% from 2006 and the highest average ever for the World Cup on the network.

How does the TV viewing audience for the 2010 World Cup Final compare to previous records, other countries and other sports? Let’s put this into perspective:

• The previous record in the United States for the most watched soccer game on television was the 19.4 million viewers who watched the U.S. versus Ghana on the same networks earlier during the 2010 World Cup, followed by the 1994 World Cup Final (staged in the United States), which drew 18.1 million viewers on ABC and Univision. The final of the Women’s World Cup in 1999 between the United States and China drew 18 million on ABC.
• The 24.3 million viewers marks the fourth-largest audience for any sporting event in 2010 (excludes NFL and primetime Olympic telecasts). Only the USA/Canada Olympic Hockey Gold Medal Game (27.600 mil), Game 7 of the Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals (28.203 mil) and the BCS National Championship Game (30.776 mil) drew more viewers.
• The combined audience drew more viewers than every single Major League Baseball game since 2004 and every single college basketball game since 1999.
• In the United Kingdom, an average of 18.4 million viewers watched the 2010 World Cup Final on BBC and ITV combined.
• Spain registered its highest ever TV audience as 15.6 million — an 85.9% audience share.
• In Holland 8.5 million viewers — a 90.6% share — watched the game.
• According to FIFA, a worldwide television audience of more than 700 million people watched the final.

Without a doubt, the 2010 World Cup Final is a landmark moment in the history of soccer in the United States. If anyone doubted whether soccer was growing in popularity in this country, then these are the numbers to prove them wrong.

If the United States had progressed farther in the tournament, one can only imagine how much higher the TV viewing audience would have been. Still, these are incredible numbers and full credit needs to go to ESPN, ABC, Univision and you, the soccer fans, for making the 2010 World Cup the most successful soccer tournament in US history.

The 2010 World Cup clash between USA and England drew the fifth-best rating ever for a World Cup game. In addition to ranking behind the 1994 Romania-U.S. game (9.2), it trails only the 1994 Brazil-Italy final (12.8), the 1994 Brazil-U.S. game (10.4). The 2006 Italy-France final received an 8.6 rating.

UPDATED: To put these numbers in perspective, Saturday’s match drew more viewers than every game of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final — including Game 6, which hit a 36-year high of 8.3 million viewers. However, the match trails the first four games of the NBA Finals (14.1 mil, 15.7 mil, 16.0 mil and 16.4 mil). Keep in mind that the match also aired on Univision. Viewership for the Univision telecast was not immediately available. If the Univision telecast drew at least 3.5 million viewers, then USA/England would also top Games 1-4 of the NBA Finals.

UPDATED: According to ESPN, the two-hour match window averaged a 7.3 household rating (8.4 million households) and 12.9 million viewers. England against United States was the most-watched FIFA World Cup first-round match among households and viewers, and the most-viewed United States Men’s National Team game since 1994. The two-hour match window (2:30-4:30 p.m. ET) averaged a 7.3 household rating, 8,391,000 households, and 12,956,000 viewers, based on fast nationals.

Through five matches, ESPN and ABC are averaging 3,427,000 households and 4,937,000 viewers — up 95% and 108%, respectively, versus the first five games of the 2006 World Cup (1,754,000 households and 2,379,000 viewers in ’06). ESPN’s most-watched game so far is Saturday’s Argentina-Nigeria matchup – a 2.8 household coverage rating, 2,820,000 households, and 3,725,000 viewers.

Since Thursday, fans have consumed more than one million hours of World Cup content on ESPN3.com, ESPN’s signature broadband network, which is available in 50 million homes. ESPN3.com viewers are also averaging 51 minutes per match on ESPN3.com, generating 61.2 million minutes of viewing.

Note: The U.S.-England match ranks as the highest-rated World Cup game on the ESPN networks for 19 of the 56 metered markets, including: Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Greenville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, Norfolk, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Providence, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Tulsa.

ESPN ratings numbers thus far:

Fri., June 11:
South Africa-Mexico (ESPN, 10 a.m.) — 2.2 household coverage rating, 2.151 million HHs, 2.856 million viewers
Uruguay-France (ESPN, 2:30 p.m.) — 2.1 rating, 2.056 HHs, 2.950 viewers

Sat., June 12:
South Korea-Greece (ESPN, 7:30 a.m.) — 1.6 rating, 1.590 HHs, 1.997 viewers
Argentina-Nigeria (ESPN, 9:21 a.m.) — 2.8 rating, 2.820 HHs, 3.725 viewers
U.S.-England (ABC, 2:30 p.m.) — 7.3 (U.S.) rating, 8.391 HHs, 12.956 viewers

ESPN’s most-watched game over the weekend was Argentina vs. Nigeria — a 2.8 household coverage rating (2.8 million households) and 3.7 million viewers.

Univision ratings numbers thus far:

Friday’s Mexico/South Africa World Cup opener drew 5.4 million viewers on Univision. The match was the most-viewed Opening Day World Cup telecast ever on Univision.

Univision’s telecast of the South Africa v Mexico match was the most-viewed program of the day in three top 10 TV markets — Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston. Later in the day, Uruguay v France drew 2.5 million viewers on Univision.

Overall, Univision averaged 4.0 million viewers for the first day of the World Cup, “nearly 2.0 million more” than the first day of the 2006 World Cup.

Meanwhile, if the United States can advance out of Group C, the likelihood of a match against Germany could generate an ever larger TV rating.

ESPN has revealed the commentator assignments for its coverage of the 2010 World Cup.

The big one, the match that everyone is talking about featuring England against the United States of America, will include Martin Tyler as the lead commentator and John Harkes as the co-commentator (June 12, 2:30pm ET, ABC).

In the match that kicks off the tournament between South Africa and Mexico, the commentating team will be Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku.

Here is the complete schedule of commentator assignments for the first 10 days of the tournament:

Friday, June 11:

• South Africa v Mexico, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku
• Uruguay v France, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Ally McCoist

Saturday, June 12:

• Korea Republic v Greece, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Argentina v Nigeria, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and Efan Ekoku
• England v USA, 2pm ET, ABC: Martin Tyler and John Harkes

Sunday, June 13:

• Algeria v Slovenia, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Serbia v Ghana, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku
• Germany v Australia, 2pm ET, ABC: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Monday, June 14:

• Holland v Denmark, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Japan v Cameroon, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Italy v Paraguay, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku

Tuesday, June 15:

• New Zealand v Slovakia, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Ivory Coast v Portugal, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku
• Brazil v Korea DPR, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Wednesday, June 16:

• Honduras v Chile, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Spain v Switzerland, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• South Africa v Uruguay, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Thursday, June 17:

• Argentina v Korea Rep., 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and John Harkes
• Greece v Nigeria, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• France v Mexico, 2pm, ESPN2/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and Efan Ekoku

Friday, June 18:

• Germany v Serbia, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Slovenia v USA, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and John Harkes
• England v Algeria, 2pm ET, ESPN2/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

Saturday, June 19:

• Holland v Japan, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Ghana v Australia, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Cameroon v Denmark, 2pm ET, ABC: Ian Darke and Efan Ekoku

Sunday, June 20:

• Slovakia v Paraguay, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Italy v New Zealand, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Ian Darke and Ally McCoist
• Brazil v Ivory Coast, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Martin Tyler and Efan Ekoku

Monday, June 21:

• Portugal v Korea DPR, 7am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Adrian Healey and John Harkes
• Chile v Switzerland, 9:30am ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com: Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe
• Spain v Honduras, 2pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3.com,  Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist

The commentators for June 23 through July 11 will be announced at a later date.

Some observations about the choice of commentators for each game:

• John Harkes will serve as co-commentator on all U.S. team matches, which is good news for those of you (myself included) who feel it absolutely necessary to include an American voice in ESPN’s TV commentary,
• On ESPN Radio, the lead broadcast team of JP Dellacamera and Tommy Smyth will call the South Africa versus Mexico opener, as well as all U.S. team matches including the England match on June 12,
• ESPN’s radio commentator team also includes Glenn Davis, Kyle Martino, Ross Dyer and Shep Messing,
• Most of us already knew that most of the ESPN TV commentators were going to have British accents, but after reviewing the above schedule, you get a good glimpse of how few American accents you’ll hear commentating games on TV during the first 10 days of the tournament.

The TV schedule for the 2010 World Cup has been released for viewers in the United States, and the most highly anticipated match of the opening round featuring England against the United States of America will be televised live on ABC on Saturday, June 12 beginning at 2pm ET.

In England’s second game of the tournament, the match against Algeria will be shown live on ESPN2 on Friday, June 16 with coverage beginning at 2pm ET. England’s last game of the opening round, against Slovenia, will be televised on Wednesday, June 23. Coverage that day begins at 9:30am ET.

All games will be televised in HD and will feature pre-game, half-time and post-game analysis. Plus, ESPN has announced that they will show the complete national anthems for both teams before each game.

All 64 games will be televised live. The breakdown of the games will be as follows: ESPN will show 44 games. ABC will show 10, while ESPN2 will show 10. The World Cup final will be broadcast live on Sunday, July 11th at 1:30pm ET on ABC.

In addition to the television coverage, all of the games shown on ESPN and ESPN2 will also be shown live on ESPN360.com. That means that the England against United States game, and all others on ABC, will not be available via ESPN360. However, all 64 tournament games will be available on archive for the remainder of 2010.

Lastly, ESPN Classic will re-air all 64 World Cup matches. Each matchday, between 6pm and midnight ET, the network will present all matches played earlier that day. Plus, ESPN and ESPN2 will air the best match of the day on select nights throughout the tournament.

I think you’ll agree with me that ESPN is, so far, making all the right moves and is planning on making this the best possible World Cup experience ever. Plus, to me, showing the national anthems of both teams is a big deal and it’s something that wasn’t shown in many previous World Cup tournaments. Or, if it was shown, the United States national anthem was shown live and as soon as it was the turn of the opponent’s national anthem, the networks involved often broke for a commercial.

For the complete TV schedule of all World Cup games, visit our sister site World Cup Buzz.

Sunday afternoon’s Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany on ABC was watched by 2.4 million overnight households according to numbers announced by Nielsen Media Research.  That gives the broadcast a 3.1 overnight rating based on the 77 million households in America which make up the overnight numbers.  That number is a little more than double the 1.5 overnight rating ABC got for its broadcast of the Netherlands v Russia quarterfinal last weekend.

So, first, a quick dose of reality; the number obviously pales in comparison to the 8.6 overnight rating the network got for the 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy.  That’s not a surprise given the higher profile of the World Cup, but it shows there were a considerable number of casual sports viewers who have watched soccer and did not tune in.  Also, that number is certain to go down once the last batch of households with televisions, mostly in rural areas, are counted up later in the week.  For example, the Netherlands-Russia match saw a 20% drop in its rating once these were added, going from 1.5 to 1.2.  Assuming a similar percentage drop for this match would put the final rating down to around 2.5.

However, that number also gives ESPN and owner Disney a reason to smile.  At 2.5, ABC’s performance for the Euro 2008 final would equal the national rating picked up by Univision for its American broadcast of another continental championship: last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final between the United States and Mexico.  What this shows is that there is a noteworthy, if smaller, audience on American television for big event international soccer outside the World Cup, both with and without local teams to drive it.

So, what does ESPN do now?  Well, while these results are good, it’d be hard to justify using them for the purpose of adding European league soccer, given they are far more dragged out events (months instead of weeks) and can’t guarantee big star affairs every single time.  On top of that, most of the European leagues already have deals for this season tied up.  And for next season, the only contracts due to run out in the US are for Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga.  It’d be hard to capitalize on the momentum of this tournament without any big leagues coming straight away to the network.

What ESPN could do next, however, is try to solidify their position as the home of big event international soccer.  The network already has the rights to next year’s Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup.  2011 could see the network try to pick up the Gold Cup or Copa America, either of which offer English and Spanish language possibilities, and then ESPN would finish the cycle by getting Euro 2012.  Another move might see ESPN expand its portfolio when it comes to online broadcast rights through ESPN360.  They already have the online rights to Serie A and the Russian Premier League, and most American broadcasters have done little in this area to make use of those rights.  The other networks might be receptive to parting with their online rights to pick up some additional cash.  ESPN360 was a major success during the tournament, with eight of it’s 10 most watched single events being Euro 2008 matches, and it’s an area they can try to expand on right away.

Wherever it goes from here, Euro 2008 represents a step forward for soccer on ESPN, and is a moment worth celebrating.  Now fans will have to wait and see for what the network’s next step ahead is going to be.

As we head into the final weekend of Euro 2008, ESPN decided to take the occasion yesterday to put out a new press release talking about how the tournament is doing viewership wise through the quarterfinal round.  So, what did they have to say?

As noted in the headline, the Spain v Italy quarterfinal shown on ESPN Sunday was the most watched Euro 2008 match before the semifinals.  The game scored a 1.4 rating, with 1.39 million homes and 1.91 million viewers tuning in.  Given these were two of the highest-profile teams in the tournament, the result doesn’t come as much of a surprise.  Overall, in six matches shown on the ESPN, the average rating is a .9, with 835,000 homes and 1.1 million viewers.  Compared to the same time slot (2:30-5PM eastern) on ESPN in 2007, this represents an 80% increase in rating, a 90% increase in households, and a 116% increase in total viewers from the network average.

Meanwhile, ESPN2 in 16 matches aired has a .5 rating with 506,000 homes and 635,000 viewers, which respectively represent a 67%, 59%, and 75% increase on ESPN2′s average for the same time slot in 2007.  And the online video service ESPN360 has had it’s biggest month in history between Euro 2008, the US Open, and Wimbledon, with eight of the 10 most viewed single events being Euro matches.

As for the one game broadcast on ABC, the Netherlands v Russia quarterfinal finished with a 1.2 rating and 1.84 million viewers according to ratings site TV by the Numbers.  Compared to other Saturday afternoon sports broadcasts, it roughly fell in the middle of the pack.  The match finished well behind FOX Saturday Baseball and the Men’s Gymnastics Olympic Trials on NBC, but it did finish ahead of the rest of NBC’s afternoon sports lineup and the PGA Tour on CBS.

Overall, the ratings seem fairly positive given this is an event without an obvious American interest and with most of its matches falling in the middle of the workday. Positive enough to ensure its return in four years time, or to cause ESPN to bring in more European soccer? We will have to wait and see. For now, the focus will be on a big finish with Sunday’s soccer doubleheader on ABC, with the LA Galaxy playing DC United in MLS action before the Germany v Spain final.

Sometimes readers ask me why I don’t have DirecTV or DISH Network. One of the main reasons why was on display today, and it’s definitely one of the pitfalls of watching soccer on satellite television.The culprit is the weather in South Florida. During the summer here, you can almost guarantee that by 2pm that the major thunderstorms will roll in and the rain comes pouring down. When that happens, you lose the satellite signal and you have to wait for the storm to pass before the TV programming returns. Sometimes that can be 20 minutes or more.

When your satellite signal is at the mercy of the weather, there’s no telling when it’ll ruin your soccer watching experience. This is exactly what happened today. Watching the Russia against Holland quarter-final in a local pub, the DirecTV signal was lost two to three times during the match, leaving us with blank screens for several minutes during the match.

The worst part of this is that we missed a key moment in the match near the end of the 90 minutes. When we frustratingly lost the DirecTV signal around the 80th minute mark, several of the pub patrons pulled out their Blackberry’s to give us updates on the game as we waited for the ABC signal to return. One of the customers yelped that Ruud van Nistelrooy just scored an equalizer. It’s one thing to see the goal in person, but when you hear someone blurt it out after reading it on a Blackberry, it pissed me off because I wasn’t able to see it on TV.

Hurricane season in Florida is from June 1st to November 30. So for six months out of the year, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to watch your soccer matches when you want to.

Cable is definitely the better option but Setanta Sports isn’t available on Comcast. Unless a major announcement will be made this summer, I may sign up for Setanta Broadband instead.

If you happen to notice a sense of relief coming from ESPN in the last few days, there is a reason for it.  It’s because, while they are not coming in World Cup numbers, viewers are tuning in to the network’s broadcasts of Euro 2008.

ESPN announced today that, for the 15 Euro 2008 matches shown on ESPN2 through Tuesday, June 17th, the average rating for the tournament is .5, with 521,000 homes tuning in and 655,000 viewers.  Compared to the network average for the same time block (Noon to 5PM eastern) in 2007, this represents a 64% increase in households tuned in to ESPN2 (2007 average of 318,000 homes), a 67% increase in rating, and an 81% increase in viewers (2007 average of 362,000 viewers).  The most watched match of the tournament on ESPN2 was this past Saturday between Sweden and Spain.  The match netted a .9 rating from 831,000 homes and 1.01 million viewers.

In addition to ESPN2, the Spanish-language broadcasts on ESPN Deportes have been averaging an additional 74,000 Hispanic homes per match.  This puts the combined household average of ESPN2 and Deportes for each match at just shy of 600,000 homes.  Interestingly, the most watched match on Deportes so far is the opening-day broadcast of Portugal v Turkey, seen in 123,000 Hispanic homes.

Along with the viewership on TV, ESPN is also getting more eyeballs online.  ESPN’s Soccernet website has averaged over 1 million daily visits during the tournament, an 82 percent increase over the same period during Euro 2004.  The tournament is also contributing to ESPN360′s most watched month online since it’s relaunch in September of last year.

With increased viewership being seen on cable, ESPN will now be hoping for a successful jump to broadcast TV with the Netherlands v Russia quarterfinal this Saturday and the final next Sunday on ABC.  But for now, programmers will be breathing a little easier at the worldwide leader in sports.