A total of 99.2 million U.S. viewers have watched at least six minutes of World Cup action through Tuesday. The figure already surpasses the 91.4 million viewers who watched at least some of the games throughout the entire 2006 World Cup.

“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,” said Stephen Master, VP 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.”

Miami Dominates Local Rankings

Viewers in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market are watching the World Cup more than any other market in the country. Through Tuesday, Miami has the highest ratings for both English language (3.6 HH rating) and Spanish language (5.2 HH rating) World Cup telecasts.

New York City has the second highest ratings for English language telecasts (3.3 HH rating), followed by Washington, DC (3.2 HH rating). San Diego, which was the top rated English language market in 2006, ranks fouth so far this year with a 3.1 average household rating.

After Miami, Los Angeles has the highest average rating for Spanish language broadcasts (4.1 HH rating). Houston (3.5), Las Vegas (2.6), and Dallas-Ft. Worth (2.4) round out the top five.

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The combined overall household rating for the inauguration of President Barack Obama in the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains TV meters was 30.1%.

The Raleigh-Durham market had the largest TV audience with more than 51% of households tuned in to the day’s events.

See previous ratings for presidential elections here.

Angels/Red Sox Match-Up Tops Division Series TV Ratings
The third game of the Los Angeles Angels v. Boston Red Sox drew the largest television audience of the division series: 6.2 million viewers.  The three other games in that contentious series also made the top ten — with average TV audiences of approximately 5.7 million (game four), 5.3 million (game two), and 4.4 million viewers (game one), respectively.

After the jump, view complete national ratings from the division series games, aired exclusively on TBS.

Manny Boosts Dodgers…TV Ratings?
What are the odds that the Los Angeles Dodgers would have made it to the MLB National League Championship Series without Manny Ramirez?  Since Manny’s move west to join the Dodgers, the team has gone from one game under .500 to seven games above. 

Local L.A. fans’ interest in the Dodgers is also on the rise.  Ramirez’s first game with the Dodgers drew 5.2% of all TV households in the L.A. market – the team’s largest TV audience of the season.  Overall, local ratings for Dodgers games are up by 35% since August 1.

Rays’ First Post-Season Triggers TV Ratings Surge
The Red Sox, Ramirez’s former team, didn’t miss a beat after losing their all-star slugger to the Dodgers.  The resurgent Tampa Bay Rays, however, may change that. 

The Rays, who are competing in their first post-season in franchise history, are drawing strong TV audiences in their local Tampa Bay market, with ratings up by 97% over last season, to date.  When the Rays and the Red Sox last faced off on July 2, 9% of all households in the Tampa Bay market tuned in for the game, setting a Rays franchise ratings record.