MOSCOW (AP) U.S. English-language television viewers for the World Cups round of 16 in Russia were down 27 percent from four years ago, leaving the tournament 38 percent below 2014s level.
The eight second-round matches on Fox and FS averaged 4,858,000 viewers, down from 6,696,000 four years ago on ESPN and ABC, according to Nielsen Media Research. Viewers for the round of 16 were down 4 percent from the 5,042,000 average for the 2010 tournament in South Africa, which had more comparable kickoff times to this year.
The first 56 matches of this years tournament averaged 2,541,000 on Fox and FS1, down from the 4,083,000 average through the round of 16 in 2014 on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, and down 10 percent from the 2,836,000 average in 2010.
Ratings were expected to drop from four years ago because of earlier kickoff times and the United States missing the World Cup for the first time since 1986.
