ESPN PREDICTING RECORD RATINGS FOR SATURDAY’S WORLD CUP

ESPN is expecting Saturday’s World Cup match between the U.S. and Ghana to set a record for the most viewers ever to watch a soccer match on the cable sports network, Daily Variety reported today (Thursday). The record is currently held by the Germany-Italy semifinal match in 2006, which drew 5.8 million viewers. Its World Cup coverage has been drawing solid ratings from the outset, even those played during daytime in midweek. “This is beyond where I thought we’d be,” John Skipper, ESPN’s head of content, told the trade publication. “It will increase our momentum. We’re going to get big spikes when [the U.S.] plays.” Meanwile, Univision said Wednesday that Day 12 of the World Cup generated almost 19 million page views and 2.6 million visits on its online and mobile platforms, including Apple’s iPhone, which, it said, “had its’ No. 1 day.” Since the soccer tournament began, the the Spanish-language broadcaster said, it has delivered over 180 million page views and 23.3 million visits across all platforms. In a statement, the network said, “Univision Communications has transformed itself into the U.S. World Cup destination across all its platforms — television, online, mobile and [video-on-demand] — allowing U.S. audiences to have the best experience and unprecedented access to the biggest sporting event in the world no matter what device they connect from.”