• by Wayne Friedman , July 1, 2010

U.S. viewing of the World Cup soccer event has reached all-time record levels, according to the Nielsen Company -- and the event isn't finished.

Some 99.2 million U.S. viewers have watched the event on either English-language or Spanish-language networks -- at least six minutes worth -- besting the numbers set in 2006, when the numbers for the entire event were 91.4 million.

This total viewer number, it should be noted, is different from the average viewer numbers for a particular telecast, which are more often used by TV programmers.v

"The audience reach measurement is a good indicator of how many viewers are at least curious enough to see what all the buzz is about," stated Stephen Master, vice president of sports at Nielsen. "Even with the World Cup's most crucial games still to come, a reach of 99.2 million viewers suggests that there's a big American appetite for world class soccer."

Nielsen says this 99.2 million number means the event has reached over one-third of all U.S. television viewers: around 300 million people.

The best ratings in local markets appear to be in the cities where the number of Spanish-language viewers is the highest, including Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and Dallas-Ft.Worth.

Miami had the highest numbers for both English-language and Spanish-language, a 3.9 household rating/9 share and a 5.2 rating/14 share respectively.