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The U.S. men’s national team did more than clinch the top spot in Group D when it beat Australia 2–0 on Friday. It also continued the World Cup viewership win streak for Fox Sports.
According to preliminary figures from Nielsen, which are likely to be revised upward in the coming days, Friday’s game pulled in 14.78 million viewers on English-language television in the U.S.
That’s good for the fourth-largest such audience for a men’s World Cup match. And even bigger ratings may be coming. The record was only set a week ago, when 18.04 million English-language viewers watched the U.S. beat Paraguay 4–1 in its opening match. (The largest soccer telecast in U.S. history remains the 2015 Women’s World Cup final, in which the U.S. beat Japan, with 22.3 million viewers.)
It wasn’t clear what the ratings would look like heading into the match. While Juneteenth is a federal holiday, the 3 p.m. ET kickoff on a Friday is hardly traditional sports viewing time.
But Fox should be happy with the numbers, which may go up when full figures become available, including out-of-home viewership. Nielsen has tweaked its methodology several times since 2025 to better account for co-viewing and out-of-home audiences, which are particularly relevant for the World Cup, as many fans choose to attend watch parties. Since changing its methodology, sports viewing statistics have trended higher.
Up next for the U.S. is Turkey on Thursday. The U.S., which has two group-stage wins for the first time since 1930, has already clinched first place in the group, and Turkey has been eliminated due to its two losses. (FIFA changed its tiebreaker rules before the World Cup so that head-to-head results are considered before goal differential.)
As a result, the result is (mostly) meaningless. But another strong showing from the U.S. this week could still boost interest ahead of the Round of 32 matchup on July 1. That match is scheduled for primetime.
Telemundo, Too
The strong audience extended beyond Fox Sports.
Telemundo reported 5.9 million total viewers for USA–Australia, up 27% from the U.S. team’s second group-stage match at the 2022 World Cup
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