FIFA World Cup 2018: US Television Ratings Down 42 Percent

American television ratings for the 2018 FIFA World Cup have gone down due to the absence of the U.S. men's national team, however, not many would have predicted a 42 percent drop.

The U.S. failed to make the World Cup in Russia after a disastrous 2-1 qualifier defeat against Trinidad and Tobago in October last year saw them miss out on soccer's showpiece event for the first time since 1986.

Their absence in the competition was constantly brought up on social media during the group stage especially when Panama, who finished above them in the qualifiers, were ridiculed as one of the poorer teams in the World Cup, conceding 11 goals in their three games with zero points.

With the World Cup being a global event, it's an occasion where even non-followers of the sport tune in. But the absence of Christian Pulisic and company proved to be too much as after the 48 games played during the group stage, telecasts on Fox and FS1 averaged just 2,069,000 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.

This is a 42 percent drop from the 3.54 million viewers who tuned in for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and a 15 percent drop from the 2,429,000 viewers who watched 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Both events were telecast by ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC at the time.

As for games not featuring the American team, the average viewers declined by 28 percent from the 2014 edition while it was up 1 percent from the 2010 edition.

The absence of the U.S team is likely to be a major factor in the decline, however, the timings in Russia may have played a small part as well. Group stage games during the World Cup in South Africa started as early as 7:30 a.m. EDT and at 10 a.m. as well.

Four years ago, the group stage games started from 12:00 p.m. EDT to 4:00 p.m. This year though, games are starting as early as 6:30 a.m. EDT while the latest games would start at 2:00 p.m.

The biggest sufferer of the decline in viewership is Fox, who in 2011, paid over $400 million for the rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. In comparison, ESPN paid just $100 million for the rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

The deal could still yet be worth Fox's money, not only if the U.S. qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, but, if the constant growth in viewership for the final continues when it takes place July 15.

The 2014 World Cup final between Germany and Argentina drew 17.3 million English language network viewers in America, up by 1.8 million in comparison to the Spain vs. Netherlands final in 2010. The 2006 final between Italy and France in contrast, drew an estimated 17 million viewers combined for both English and Spanish language telecasts.

The round of 16 ended Tuesday and the quarterfinals, as mentioned below, will commence later this week with the first two taking place Friday and the remaining two taking place Saturday:

• France vs. Uruguay
• Brazil vs. Belgium
• Sweden vs. England
• Russia vs. Croatia