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Sunday's FIFA World Cup final shattered U.S. television records, drawing more than 62.8 million viewers in the largest audience ever for a soccer telecast in the United States.
The championship match, in which Spain defeated defending champion Argentina 1-0 in extra time, became the most-watched FIFA World Cup final and the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history, according to Nielsen ratings reported by Variety and Axios.
Fox's English-language broadcast averaged nearly 39 million viewers, a 132% increase over the 2022 World Cup final.
On the Spanish-language side, Telemundo and Peacock attracted another 23.9 million viewers, up 166% from four years earlier.
Combined, the telecasts reached a record 62.8 million viewers.
Viewership on Fox peaked at more than 51.6 million as Spain's Ferran Torres scored the decisive goal in the 106th minute.
The tournament's record-breaking audience also delivered a major business victory for broadcasters.
Axios reported June became the biggest subscriber-acquisition month ever for Fox One, with an estimated 2.8 million new subscribers — more than 2.5 times the platform's previous record.
Roughly 93% were first-time customers.
Peacock also enjoyed a surge, adding an estimated 3.75 million subscribers during June as Telemundo's coverage benefited from heavy streaming viewership.
Nearly half of Telemundo's World Cup audience watched via streaming, compared with about 30% during the 2022 tournament.
Several factors helped fuel the ratings boom, including the United States hosting the tournament, a strong showing by the U.S. men's national team, and broader streaming availability.
Throughout the tournament, multiple audience records fell.
The United States' opening match against Paraguay became the biggest English-language World Cup opener in U.S. history, while knockout-round matches against Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina also established new television milestones.
Variety reported the 39-day tournament averaged 7.74 million viewers across Fox, FS1, and Tubi — a 116% increase over the 2022 World Cup and the largest average audience in U.S. television history.
Telemundo and Peacock also delivered their biggest World Cup ever, averaging 6.3 million viewers.
The record-setting tournament is expected to drive fierce competition for the 2030 World Cup media rights.
Axios reported FIFA is preparing to open bidding, with companies including Netflix, Disney, YouTube, and other major media players reportedly interested in acquiring the lucrative U.S. broadcast package.
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