World Cup victory USA vs. Paraguay scores record ratings for Fox, Telemundo
The World Cup has had a record start for both Fox Sports and Telemundo. According to Fox Sports ratings, the U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team’s win over Paraguay on Friday drew nearly 16 million viewers, making it the most-watched USMNT World Cup broadcast in English-language history.
Meanwhile, Telemundo reports that Mexico’s victory over South Africa with an audience of 12.1 million viewers on Thursday was the most watched World Cup match in Spanish-speaking history.
Friday’s USA-Paraguay game – played at SoFi Stadium here in Inglewood, California – averaged 15,986,000 viewers across Fox, Fox One and Tubi. The audience peaked at 18.86 million viewers at 10:45 PM ET. It was also the most streamed English-language USMNT match ever, with 1.13 million viewers on Tubi.
That US-Paraguay match (in which the US won 4-1) was a whopping 106% higher than the first broadcast of the USMNT group stage of the 2022 Men’s World Cup on Fox (7.76 million viewers on November 21, 2022, when the team faced Wales).
Friday’s U.S.-Paraguay showdown also broke the Spanish-language record books on Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms, averaging 8.9 million viewers. That makes it the most-watched USMNT World Cup match ever on Spanish-language TV. It is also the most watched World Cup group match where Mexico is never shown on Spanish-language TV.
Like Fox, Telemundo saw a huge jump compared to the Wales match in 2022: an increase of a whopping 156% (then 3.5 million viewers).
As for Thursday’s Mexico-South Africa match, in which Mexico won 2-0, it was not only the most-watched World Cup match in Spanish-speaking history, but also the most-streamed Mexico World Cup match and the most-streamed group stage match in Spanish-speaking history.
Moreover, this was the most watched World Cup opening match ever, regardless of language. And it was the most-watched World Cup group match ever featuring the U.S. team, regardless of language.
The World Cup coverage continues on Saturday evening with Haiti vs. Scotland at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT and Australia vs. Türkiye at 11:00 PM ET / 8:00 PM PT.
