The final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup earned the largest audience ever to watch soccer in the United States.
The Germany/Argentina World Cup final earned a combined 26.5 million viewers across ABC and Univision Sunday afternoon, up 9% from Spain/Netherlands in 2010 (24.3M), up 56% from Italy/France in 2006 (17.0M), and the largest U.S. audience ever for a soccer match. The previous high was 24.7 million for the USA/Portugal group play match earlier in this year’s World Cup.
Excluding the NFL and the Olympics, Germany/Argentina ranks as the most-watched sporting event of 2014. The previous high was 26.1 million for the Florida State/Auburn BCS National Championship Game on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS (26.1M). The World Cup accounts for three of the four most-watched non-NFL/Olympic sporting events this year.
Going back further, the match earned a larger audience than every Major League Baseball game since 2004, topping Rangers/Cardinals Game 7 in 2011 (25.4M). It topped all-but-two basketball games — college or pro — since 1998, trailing only Celtics/Lakers Game 7 in 2010 (28.2M) and Spurs/Heat Game 7 in 2013 (26.6M on ABC/ESPN Deportes). It topped Tiger Woods‘ first ever win at The Masters in 1997 (20.3M), every Triple Crown horse race since at least 1988 and every NASCAR and NHL telecast on record.
Among adults 18-49, ABC and Univision combined for a 10.3 rating — the highest in the demo for any non-NFL sporting event since Spurs/Heat Game 7 in 2013 (10.6), even topping every single telecast of this year’s Olympics.
On ABC alone, Germany/Argentina had a 9.1 U.S. rating and 17.3 million viewers — up 12% in ratings and 11% in viewership from 2010 (8.1, 15.5M) and the fourth-most watched World Cup match ever on a single network. Only this year’s USA/Portugal match on ESPN (18.2M) and the 1999 USA/China Women’s World Cup final (18.0M) did better. This year’s World Cup accounted for half of the 20 most-watched soccer matches ever on ESPN/ABC.
ABC’s coverage peaked with an 11.0 and 20.8 million from 5-5:30 PM ET, huge numbers for the afternoon.
Univision, as reported earlier, delivered 9.2 million viewers for its coverage. Interestingly enough, neither ABC nor Univision generated their largest audience of the tournament for Sunday’s final — but the combined audience was enough to put the match on top of the charts.
Most Watched Telecasts By Sport Since the Turn of the Century
* While the top NHL telecast only had 8.5 million viewers, the top hockey telecast — the 2010 Canada/United States Olympic gold medal game — drew 27.6 million.
| Sport | Most-Watched Event | Viewers | Second-Most Watched Event | Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | 2014: Seahawks/Broncos | 112.2M | 2012: Giants/Patriots | 111.3M |
| Olympics | 2002: Opening Ceremony | 45.6M | 2002: Primetime Coverage (2/21) | 43.3M |
| MLB | 2001: Yankees/D’Backs Game 7 | 39.1M | 2004: Red Sox/Yankees Game 7 | 31.5M |
| NCAAF | 2006: Texas/USC | 35.6M | 2010: Alabama/Texas | 30.8M |
| NBA | 2010: Celtics/Lakers Game 7 | 28.2M | 2013: Spurs/Heat Game 7 | 26.6M |
| World Cup | 2014: Germany/Argentina | 26.5M | 2014: USA/Portugal | 24.7M |
| NCAAMB | 2001: Duke/Arizona | 24.0M | 2010: Duke/Butler | 23.9M |
| Horse | 2004: The Belmont Stakes | 20.6M | 2014: The Belmont Stakes | 20.4M |
| NASCAR | 2006: Daytona 500 | 19.4M | 2002: Daytona 500 | 18.8M |
| Golf | 2001: The Masters, Final Round | 19.2M | 2010: The Masters, Final Round | 16.7M |
| NHL* | 2011: Bruins/Canucks Game 7 | 8.5M | 2010: Blackhawks/Flyers Game 6 | 8.3M |
(Sun. numbers from ESPN)
