World Cup ratings are on pace for big declines, but the tournament clearly remains a marquee television draw.
The previous high was 6.8 million for Brazil-Mexico on Univision in 2014.
Viewership increased 42% from Mexico’s first match of the 2014 World Cup (vs. Cameroon: 5.01M), which also aired on Univision. The Spanish-language audience peaked at 8.0 million from 12:30-12:45 PM ET.
FS1 earned 4.002 million for its coverage, which includes pre-match coverage. In the same window four years ago, ABC drew 4.007 million (which excludes the pre-match window). Combined, the match had 10.6 million viewers with pre-match coverage included.
Later in the day, Brazil-Switzerland had 4.35 million on Telemundo, up 4% from the same window in 2014 (France-Honduras: 4.2M). Coverage of the same match on FS1 — again including the pre-match window — had 4.09 million. In the same window four years ago, ABC earned 4.6 million (excluding the pre-match).
FS1’s telecast delivered the largest soccer audience in network history. It was also the most-watched English-language soccer match since the Euro 2016 final (Portugal-France: 4.5M).
Adding in streaming viewership, Mexico-Germany had 7.4 million on Telemundo and 4.25 million on FS1. Brazil-Switzerland had 4.55 million on Telemundo and 4.3 million on FS1.
In other action, Telemundo earned 1.7 million for Costa Rica-Serbia early Sunday morning. FOX figures were not available.
Through Sunday, the 2018 World Cup has averaged a combined 4.7 million viewers across Telemundo and Fox Sports. In particular, Telemundo is averaging 2.33 million and FOX and FS1 2.43 million — down 39% and 35% respectively from 2014 on Univision (3.8M) and ESPN/ABC (3.7M). For both outlets, average figures exclude the pre-match window.
Keep in mind there were no U.S. matches at this point in 2014.
[Numbers from Telemundo, Fox Sports PR 6.18]
