The World Cup Final attracted its smallest audience since 2002, but still put up healthy numbers.
Sunday’s France-Croatia FIFA World Cup Final generated a combined audience of 17.83 million viewers across FOX and Telemundo, down a third from Germany-Argentina in 2014 (26.72M) and down 28% from Spain-Netherlands in 2010 (24.73M), both of which aired on ABC and Univision.
All figures are for the match portion only (i.e., excluding the pre-match) unless otherwise noted.
France’s win was the least-watched World Cup Final since 2002. The 2006 final, which also included France, had a combined 18.87 million across ABC (12.96M) and Univision (5.90M).
Keep in mind this year’s final was the first since 2002 to begin prior to Noon ET. It was also the first final since 2002 that did not go into extra time.
On FOX, coverage earned a 6.8 rating and 12.51 million viewers — down 26% in ratings and 28% in viewership from 2014 (9.2, 17.49M) and down 19% and 21% respectively from 2010 (8.4, 15.91M).
The FOX telecast, which peaked with 14.6 million viewers, was the lowest rated and least-watched World Cup Final on English-language TV since 2002.
Digitally, the match had a streaming audience of 552,000 viewers on Fox Sports GO, which includes the pre-match window. Combined across TV and streaming, it had 11.82 million viewers across all Fox platforms (with the pre-match included).
Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo had 5.32 million, down 42% from 2014 (9.23M) and down 40% from 2010 (8.82M). Including streaming, it had 5.45 million.
Compared to other sporting events, Sunday’s combined audience exceeded two of this year’s four NBA Finals games, four of last year’s seven World Series games, and every game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. It also topped every golf telecast since 2001 and every NASCAR race since 2006.
France-Croatia was no match for pro and college football, trailing all three games of the College Football Playoff and all 11 games of the NFL postseason. It also trailed the most recent Women’s World Cup Final, which featured the United States and aired in primetime. That match had a combined 26.7 million viewers, still the all-time record for soccer on United States television.
[Numbers from Fox Sports, Telemundo, Nielsen]
