The FIFA World Cup final on Sunday garnered over 62.8 million viewers in the United States, marking it as the most-watched World Cup final and soccer broadcast in U.S. history. The final featured Spain defeating Argentina 1-0 in extra time. According to Telemundo, it also became the most-watched soccer match in Spanish-language media history.
Viewership statistics indicate that nearly 39 million viewers watched the game on Fox, which held exclusive English-language broadcast rights, reflecting a 132% increase from the 2022 final. Additionally, approximately 24 million viewers tuned into Telemundo's Spanish-language broadcast, representing a 166% rise from the previous year.
Streaming platforms contributed significantly to the tournament's viewership, with Fox's streaming service, Fox One, reportedly adding around 2.8 million new subscribers in June, surpassing its previous record. Telemundo's streaming service, Peacock, also experienced growth, with an estimated 3.75 million new sign-ups during the same month. Streaming accounted for nearly half of Telemundo's World Cup audience, an increase from 30% in 2022.
The U.S. men's national team's matches set audience records, with the opening match against Paraguay on June 12 becoming the most-watched FIFA Men's World Cup telecast in English-language history, averaging 18 million viewers. The U.S. team's victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 attracted 26.4 million viewers, while their match against Belgium on July 6 reached over 50 million combined viewers across both Fox and Telemundo.
The FIFA World Cup has historically drawn the largest global audience for recurring television events. FIFA has not yet released worldwide viewership figures for the final, but the previous record was held by the 2022 World Cup final, which attracted 1.42 billion viewers globally. FIFA is expected to initiate the media rights bidding process for the 2030 World Cup, with interest from companies such as Netflix, Disney, and YouTube.