Last week’s USA/Mexico soccer friendly was the least-watched meeting between the sides in at least a decade.
Last Wednesday’s United States/Mexico men’s soccer friendly earned a combined audience of 3.6 million viewers across UniMás, Univision Deportes Network and Fox Sports 1, down 27% from the rivals’ lone match last year, which aired on UniMás and ESPN (4.9M).
The telecast ranks as the least-watched USA/Mexico match of any kind in at least ten years (13 telecasts). The previous low over that span was 4.7 million for a 2009 World Cup qualifier that aired on Telemundo and mun2 (now NBC Universo).
On Fox Sports 1 in particular, the match had 806,000 viewers — the network’s most-watched soccer match ever according to Soccer America, but down 25% from last year’s USA/Mexico match on ESPN (1.1M). Viewership was the lowest for the rivalry on an English-language network since 2012, when another friendly drew 797,000 on ESPN2.
Despite the lower numbers, the friendly was easily the top sporting event on a night that featured the end of the NBA season and the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It topped all-but-two NBA games during the 2014-15 regular season, with the caveat that those games aired on only one national network.
UPDATE 10/13: Univision Deportes Network audience likely included in UniMas totals.
Viewership For USA/Mexico Matches Since 2005
* Fox Soccer was not Nielsen rated at the time of the match
** ESPN2 viewership was unavailable
| Date | Match | English-language | Spanish-language | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed., 2/7/07 | Friendly | 1.1M | 6.1M | 7.2M |
| Sun., 6/24/07 | Gold Cup | N/A* | 5.3M | 5.3M |
| Wed., 2/6/08 | Friendly | N/A** | 5.1M | 5.1M |
| Wed., 2/11/09 | Qualifier | 1.2M | 5.9M | 7.1M |
| Sun., 7/26/09 | Gold Cup | 369K | 5.4M | 5.8M |
| Wed., 8/12/09 | Qualifier | 352K | 4.3M | 4.7M |
| Sat., 6/25/11 | Gold Cup | 954K | 8.0M | 8.9M |
| Wed., 8/10/11 | Friendly | 1.1M | 4.5M | 5.6M |
| Wed., 8/15/12 | Friendly | 797K | 4.0M | 4.8M |
| Tue., 3/26/13 | Qualifier | 2.4M | 4.6M | 7.0M |
| Tue., 9/10/13 | Qualifier | 2.2M | 3.5M | 5.8M |
| Wed., 4/2/14 | Friendly | 1.1M | 3.9M | 5.0M |
| Wed., 4/15/15 | Friendly | 806K | 2.8M | 3.6M |
(This year’s numbers from Soccer America)
