The U.S. men’s first knockout stage victory at a World Cup in 24 years set a ratings record for soccer in the United States.
The U.S. win over Bosnia and Herzegovina Wednesday averaged 24.43 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers. That number could rise a little in the final ratings, but either way, it’s the biggest English-language TV audience ever for any soccer match in the United States.
The 24.43 million viewers includes pre-match coverage, which puts it ahead of the previous record of 22.32 million for the 2015 women’s World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan, also on Fox. For the match only, the 2015 women’s final scored 25.4 million viewers.
Telemundo and Peacock drew an additional 9.1 million viewers for the Spanish-language telecast of the match. The combined total of 33.53 million shatters the previous U.S. record for a soccer match of 26.7 million viewers for both the 2015 women’s final (Fox and Telemundo) and the 2014 men’s final between Germany and Argentina (ABC and Univision).
On Tuesday, Telemundo and Peacock set an all-time Spanish-language record for Mexico’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador, averaging 18.9 million viewers — with more than half of that (9.7 million) coming from streaming. Fox’s English-language broadcast drew 10.43 million viewers, for a combined total of 29.33 million.
Fox’s viewership Wednesday peaked at 31.88 million viewers from 9:45-10 p.m. ET, as the U.S. held on for a 2-0 win despite playing a man down for the final 25-plus minutes of the match. Forward Folarin Balogun was given a controversial red card in the 64th minute after fouling Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic.
Fox Sports and Telemundo/Peacock have both enjoyed huge ratings increases over the 2022 World Cup so far. Some increases were expected given that the tournament is being played in North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States are co-hosts), but through the group stage and the first few days of knockout rounds, the audience for both the English- and Spanish-language broadcasts have doubled vs. 2022.
The U.S. men next face Belgium in the round of 16 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT Monday.
July 2, 3:05 p.m. Updated with ratings for the Mexico-Ecuador match.
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