Matildas crush all-time TV ratings records despite World Cup heartbreak in semi-final loss

The Matildas have shown they’ve won the hearts of the nation in smashing TV records despite an agonising semi-final loss to England.

The Matildas have crushed television records again, with their agonising semi-final loss to England watched by over 7 million Australians.

According to OzTAM data (which began being kept in 2001), the Matildas held an average audience of 7.13 million, which includes a national broadcast audience of 6.17 million on terrestrial television, and another 957,000 on streaming service 7plus.

The Seven Network’s reach figure hit as many as 11.15 million viewers, making it the highest rating television program by that metric since OzTAM records have been kept.

The game peaked at 6.9 million viewers on broadcast, working out to 89.8 per cent of commercial television.

This means that of all Australians watching broadcast television last night, just under nine in 10 of them were watching the Matildas.

Combined with the anticipated viewership figures from subscription streaming rights holder Optus Sport, the total figure may be higher than the reported 8.8 million that watched Cathy Freeman’s historic 400m run at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

The Matildas went down in heartbreaking scenes. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

In a statement, Seven Melbourne’s Managing Director and Head of Network Sport Lewis Martin said it showed how much the nation cared.

“Australia was captivated last night as the Matildas played their hearts out and did us all proud,” Martin said.

“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.

“The Matildas’ performance captured the Australian spirit like nothing we have seen in decades.”

It comes after the Matildas broke records only a week ago, with the heart-stopping penalty shootout victory over France in the quarterfinal reaching 6.2 million people.

The numbers surpass some of the biggest sporting moments in Australian television history, beating out Lleyton Hewitt’s 2005 Australian Open final loss, the Wallabies’ 2003 Rugby World Cup final loss, and Ash Barty’s historic 2022 Australian Open victory.

The TV ratings are another sign of how much the Australian public has gotten behind the Matildas and their fairytale World Cup run.

They are the first Australian football side to reach the semi-finals of a FIFA World Cup, having previously made the quarterfinals on three occasions.

The Matildas now look to the third-place playoff against Sweden on Saturday August 19 at Lang Park at 5.30pm AEST.