World Cup viewership is booming in US
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The beautiful game seems to have captured the imagination of the United States, as it is putting up record-high viewership numbers. With the FIFA World Cup being held partly in the United States, the hope was that the general population would start getting invested in the sport.
When the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in North America on June 11, it’s easily predicted to garner billions of viewers all over the globe, with millions of fans also watching the action live. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar saw more than 5 billion people engage with the tournament,
Viewership in the U.S. for the opening match of the Men’s FIFA World Cup smashed records for FOX Sports. The match, which saw Mexico top South Africa 2-0 had an average of 6.309 million viewers across FOX,
The 2026 Men's World Cup matches have already broken viewership records. Things are still early, so bigger audiences may be on the horizon.
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TELEMUNDO AND PEACOCK KICK-OFF FIFA WORLD CUP WITH RECORD-BREAKING VIEWERSHIP ACROSS OPENING WEEKEND
Viewership of FIFA World Cup 2026™ Averages 7.5 Million Viewers, Up +234% vs. 2022 Through First Twelve Games. USA Opener on Friday is Most-Watched USMNT FIFA World Cup™ Match
FIFA will have a wide range of suitors for future men's World Cup TV rights in the U.S. "Hydration breaks" may drive the price up even more.
Fox Sports' average for the World Cup pregame show is just under what ESPN/ESPNU averaged for “College GameDay” this past season (2.7 million), but above the 1.8 million that “Big Noon Kickoff” averaged on Fox during the college football regular season.
Like the matches themselves, the pregame has more than doubled its audience from 2022.
Early TV ratings for the 2026 World Cup, though, set records for Fox and Telemundo. The United States’ opening match against Paraguay drew 18 million viewers on Fox Sports, becoming the most-watched English-language soccer telecast ever in the U.S., per Deadline.
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