World Cup Round of 16 Drives Historic Viewership for Fox and Telemundo

Despite the elimination of the United States and Mexico squads, domestic broadcasters Fox Corporation and Telemundo have concluded the round of 16 with record-setting audience figures. The performance underscores the financial potential of the tournament’s unique scheduling and expanded format for the rights holders.

The standout match occurred on July 6, featuring the United States versus Belgium. According to final Nielsen data, the English-language broadcast on Fox averaged 37.225 million viewers, marking it as the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history. On its own, this figure represents the largest audience for a non-NFL telecast on any U.S. network since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

Simultaneously, the Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo averaged 12.9 million viewers for the same match. This brought the combined average audience to 50.1 million viewers, surpassing the 47.4 million average for the NFL conference championship games held in January.

Other matchups also delivered significant results. The Mexico versus England game on July 5 drew a combined average of 46.7 million viewers across both networks, with Telemundo contributing 23.2 million viewers—a network record for soccer.

Aggregate data for the round of 16 highlights substantial growth compared to the 2022 event in Qatar. Fox averaged 14.5 million viewers for the round, a 216% increase from the comparable 2022 average and the most-watched men’s round of 16 in English-language history. Telemundo averaged 11.1 million viewers, up 265% from the previous tournament.

Total consumption metrics have also surged. The tournament has generated 98.4 billion minutes of consumption across Fox, FS1, and Tubi, more than quadrupling the comparable figure from 2022. Telemundo reported 61 billion minutes of consumption, beating the combined totals of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments by 41%.

Industry analysts note that the viewership gains position the broadcasters well financially as the tournament enters its final stages. With only seven matches remaining of the scheduled 104, the early-round success is expected to factor significantly into upcoming quarterly earnings for the parent companies.

What to watch

• Upcoming quarterly earnings reports from Fox Corporation and Telemundo’s parent company to assess the financial impact of the tournament.
• The upcoming sale process for U.S. media rights to the 2030 and 2034 men’s World Cups, expected to begin after the current tournament concludes.

Source: original release