USA World Cup Match Draws Viewers on Fox, Telemundo, Peacock

By Jon Lafayette
( Broadcasting & Cable )
last updated

Tie with Wales peaks at 9.4 million viewers on Fox

Gareth Bale of Wales scores the second goal from the penalty spot to make it 1-1 during the World Cup match between USA v Wales at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on November 21, 2022 in Al Rayyan Qatar.
Gareth Bale of Wales scores from the penalty spot to make it 1-1 during its World Cup with Team USA (Image credit: David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)

Team USA's opening World Cup match drew 8.3 million viewers on Fox, which has the English-language rights to the soccer championship.

Viewership on Fox peaked at 9.4 million between 3:45 p.m. ET and 4 p.m.

The first three matches on Fox drew an average of 4.026 million viewers up 193% from the first three matches of the 2018 World Cup. 

NBCUniversal said Spanish-language coverage of the first two days of the World Cup averaged total audience delivery of 2.6 million for four matches across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo digital streaming platforms, up 72% from four years ago.

Also: Spanish-Language World Cup Ads Nearly Sold Out: NBCU

The USA-Wales match had a total audience deliver of 3.4 million viewers. The three matches televised on Monday averaged 2.1 million viewers, up 41% from four year ago.

During the USA-Wales game, Telemundo was the No. 1 network in Miami. Peacock was the top free app at the Apple app store on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, NBCU said.

Fox said USA-Wales was its most-streamed match with an average of 563,000 viewers.

Fox said the top markets for the USA-Wales draw were Austin with a 5.8 rating and 24 share, Cincinnati with a 5.4/21, Dallas with a 4.9/22, San Diego with a 4.9/21 and Philadelphia with a 4.6/17. ■

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.