World Cup Final Scores Nearly 63M Viewers Across Fox & Telemundo As Tournament Breaks Ratings Records

Spain’s win over Argentina in the World Cup Final was watched by 62.8M people in the U.S., breaking ratings records for both Fox and Telemundo.

Fox averaged 38.9M viewers for Sunday’s final and NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo brought in an additional 23.9M viewers on linear as well as on Peacock.

It’s clear that the tournament, which was hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada, was a huge ratings success with both broadcasters breaking multiple viewing records.

The 38.9M viewers that tuned in to watch on Fox set the record for the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. television history and most-watched World Cup Final ever in the U.S. on record, per Nielsen. The game peaked with 51.7M viewers between 5:45pm-6pm ET as Spain’s Ferran Torres scored the winner in extra time.

This was up from the 12.8M viewers that watched the 2022 World Cup Final between Argentina and France, although that game was much earlier in the day as a result of being broadcast from Qatar.

The previous record was also set during this World Cup with 38.9M people watching the U.S. lost to Belgium in the last 16.  

The 38.9M number also includes some pre-match viewing and Fox said an average of 42.5M tuned in just to see the 120 minute-match.

The tournament also broke records for Telemundo; it was the most-watched World Cup in Spanish-language history with an average of 6.3M viewers across the 104 games. This was up from 2.6M in 2022.

The 23.9M that tuned in to Telemundo and Peacock also made Spain’s win over the aggressive Argentinean side, one that saw Enzo Fernandez sent off, was also the most-watched soccer match in Spanish-language media history. It was above the 23.2M that watched England beat Mexico at the Azteca stadium in the Round of 16.