A 0-0 draw may not have been the explosive match American audiences wanted, but the extremely hyped United States vs. England showdown still set records in its coveted Black Friday slot.
Fox’s broadcast of the World Cup group stage match between the U.S. and England attracted 15.4 million viewers — making it the most-watched men’s soccer match on American English-language television ever.
That breaks the previous mark of 14.5 million set by the 1994 Final between Italy and Brazil and surpasses the 13.8 million from the American’s group stage match against Portugal in 2014.
Friday’s match peaked at 19.6 million viewers from 3:30 to 3:45 p.m. ET, and was most popular in the Kansas City (8.0/25 rating), Hartford (8.3/27), and Boston (8.0/25) markets.
It also represents a big rebound from the 8.3 million who tuned in on English-language TV for the USMNT’s first match of the 2022 tourney against Wales.
Fox had anticipated the larger audience, upping its ad prices from their usual $300,000 to $600,000 per 30-second spot.
But for as impressive an achievement as this was for the USMNT, they’ll have to keep winning matches to have any shot at the all-time U.S. viewership record.
That’s because the U.S. women’s national team set that by garnering 25.4 million viewers while winning the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final against Japan.
