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The U.S. women’s national team entered the Women’s World Cup with expectations of a historic three-peat, but faced a shock exit in the round of 16. The quarterfinals roll on this week with the final eight teams vying for title, including Sweden, who bumped off the USWNT.
CivicScience gauged consumer interest in the Women’s World Cup (and their preferred brands) ahead of the round of 16 last week, and checked in again following the USWNT’s loss to see who’s still keeping up with the games. Compared to before the American team’s exit, slightly fewer U.S. adults claim they ‘try to watch every match I can’ (5% compared to 6% earlier in the Cup). There’s been a two percentage point increase in adults who don’t watch the matches but try to follow along with who wins (20%, up from 18%).
Further data took a deeper look at how the USWNT’s exit will influence future viewing behavior, and while twice as many adults are now ‘less likely’ (15%) to watch the Women’s World Cup than ‘more likely’ (6%), a plurality of viewers are just as likely to watch as before (20%).
Despite the USWNT becoming a polarized political subject, 5% of registered Republicans and Democrats alike are ‘more likely’ to watch the World Cup following their exit. That said, registered Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to ‘not be following the Women’s World Cup at all’ (68% compared to 51%).
Gen Z adults double the Gen Pop in saying they’re now ‘more likely’ to watch the World Cup (14%) – and they were already following the Cup at a much higher rate than any other age group (just 44% aren’t following it at all). Nearly half of Millennials are still following in some capacity (48%), but fewer of them are reporting to be ‘more likely’ to watch now (10%).
In other soccer news, Lionel Messi’s MLS debut is giving American soccer fans and agnostics alike something to monitor. While a vast majority of U.S. adults didn’t follow MLS before and still don’t plan to (73%), nearly 1-in-10 adults say they’re ‘much more interested’ in MLS now – which outnumbers the percentage who already follow it very closely (6%). Twenty-one percent of adults are at least ‘somewhat more interested’ in MLS after his move. Messi’s MLS career looks to be a huge hit with Gen Z, one-quarter of whom claim to be ‘much more interested’ in following the league now.
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