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The biggest World Cup ever in the United States concluded with the most-watched final – and the most-watched match of the period.
Spain’s 1-0, extra-time win over Argentina in Sunday’s final generated nearly 63 million viewers on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock (62.8 million to be exact). This far exceeds any other record set in the previous stages of the tournament, and more than double the 25.78 million people who watched the 2022 final between Argentina and Spain (16.78 million on Fox, 9 million on Telemundo and Peacock).
Sunday’s audience was the largest ever in the United States for any soccer game at nearly 17 million viewers. The US team’s loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 was the previous high with 45.99 million viewers in English and Spanish.
Fox’s English-language broadcast averaged 38.9 million viewers, 5.8 million more than the USA-Belgium game, and peaked with approximately 51.7 million people watching from 5:45 to 6 PM ET as Spain sealed the win on Ferran Torres’ 106th-minute goal. The 38.9 million figure also includes some pre-match coverage (as in other World Cup ratings reports); For the match alone, Fox’s audience reached 42.5 million.
Fox’s single-game number was more than all but two of the NFL’s broadcasts last season — the NFC Championship Game and the Thanksgiving Day game.
Telemundo and Peacock’s Spanish-language telecast brought in 23.9 million viewers – breaking the Spanish-language record of 23.2 million, set two weeks ago for the Mexico-England round of 16 match.
The semifinals also brought in big numbers, with Argentina’s comeback win over England scoring 28.3 million combined viewers (16.9 million on Fox, 11.4 million on Telemundo and Peacock) and Spain’s shutout of France earning 22.91 million (13.11 million for Fox, 9.8 million for Telemundo/Peacock).
Saturday’s third-place match, a defensive choice 6-4 win for England over France, attracted 13.13 million viewers for Fox, nearly triple the previous English record (4.76 million in 2010). Telemundo and Peacock averaged 7.7 million for a total of 20.83 million.
For the tournament as a whole, Fox Sports averaged 7.74 million viewers on Fox, FS1 and Tubi, more than double the number of viewers in the previous two Men’s World Cups (3.59 million in 2022, 2.77 million in 2018). Likewise, Telemundo and Peacock (as well as Universo and Telemundo’s other digital platforms) had more than double the number of viewers for the 2022 tournament, averaging 6.3 million viewers (versus about 2.6 million four years ago).
July 21, 4:28 p.m Updated with final totals for Telemundo/Peacock and cross-platform audience.
