TV ratings: U.S. World Cup win over Ghana big for ESPN

The United States’ 2-1 win over Ghana in Monday’s World Cup game netted a ratings best, according to early numbers from Nielsen.

The contest that started at 3 p.m. scored an overnight household rating of 7.0 from Nielsen’s 56 metered markets, the highest number for a men’s World Cup match on the cable network since it began receiving local stats for the tournament in 1998.

Complete national viewership and demographic numbers for the match-up won’t be available until later Tuesday.

The previous record-holder was the 2010 contest between the U.S. and Algeria, which notched a household rating of 4.0 and averaged 6.16 million viewers total.

The top-five markets for Monday’s victory were Washington, D.C. (11.8), New York (10.2), Hartford-New Haven (10.1), Boston (10.0) and Columbus, Ohio (8.9).

In broadcast television, Fox won the night in prime time with new episodes of “Masterchef” and “24: Live Another Day.”

The network averaged 5.38 million viewers overall and a rating of 1.6 among the key 18- to 49-year-old audience. The Gordon Ramsay cooking show was up 20% from last week to a 1.8 in 18-49, while the “24” reboot fell a 10th of a point to a 1.5. In 18-49, a ratings point equals about 1.3 million viewers.

Second place in the advertiser-coveted demo was ABC, where “The Bachelorette” fell 11% to a 1.6 and “Mistresses” was flat at a 0.9. “The Bachelorette” drew 6.1 million viewers total, making it the most-watched show of the night on the four major networks.

NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” scored a 1.6, down slightly week-to-week, and CBS only showed reruns, other than a special “48 Hours.”

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