Writer’s Strike End a Boon for Sports Networks, Agencies
By whatever metrics you want to use, Fox Sports’ coverage of Argentina’s epic victory over France was the most-watched World Cup Men’s Final on American English-language television.
Fox says the match averaged 17,726,000 viewers “whistle to whistle,” from its start time of 10 a.m. ET to its end time of 12.55 p.m. ET.
Fox previously pegged viewership at 16.8 million for Sunday’s legendary duel between Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe. But that number accounted for the entire broadcast window, including pregame coverage.
Both numbers beat the previous Men’s Final record of 14.5 million for ABC’s coverage of Italy vs. Brazil in 1994. As well as the 15.4 million viewers for this year’s group stage match between the United States and England on Black Friday.
However, the women’s game still holds the record for the U.S. World Cup viewership.
The U.S. women’s team’s win over Japan in 2015 drew 25.4 million viewers on Fox. So Fox now holds the record for most-watched men’s and women’s World Cup Finals on American TV.
This year’s measurements included out-of-home viewing in bars and restaurants. More on the epic Men’s Final won by Argentina on penalty kicks:
- Viewership for Argentia-France peaked at 25,622,000 viewers as Messi and Mbappe traded goals in arguably the greatest Men’s Final in history.
- Telemundo and Peacock generated another nine million viewers from Spanish-language TV viewers. So the Men’s Final drew nearly 27 million total viewers in the U.S.
- It was the most-streamed World Cup match in Fox’s history, with an average minute audience (AMA) of 1,281,776, up 158% from the 2018 Final in Russia. It was also the third most-streamed event in Fox history, after Super Bowls LI and LIV.
