The Nielsen Company reports that Sunday’s FIFA World Cup Finals between Spain and the Netherlands drew a total of 24.3 million US viewers on ABC (English) and Univision (Spanish), making it the most watched soccer game in U.S. television history.
The total audience surpassed the record of 19.4 million set just days earlier by the USA vs. Ghana match, with the USA team lost.
Most Watched Soccer Games in the U.S. |
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Rank |
Date |
Game |
Network(s) |
Viewers |
1 |
7/11/2010 |
Spain-Netherlands |
ABC/Univision |
24.3 million |
2 |
6/26/2010 |
USA-Ghana |
ABC/Univision |
19.4 million |
3 |
7/17/1994 |
Brazil-Italy |
ABC/Univision |
18.1 million |
4 |
7/10/1999 |
USA-China (women) |
ABC |
18.0 million |
5 |
6/12/2010 |
USA-England |
ABC/Univision |
17.1 million |
Source: The Nielsen Company |
For its part, Univision reported that the game was the highest rated World Cup finale ever on the network,
averaging 8.8 million Total Viewers 2+ (8,821,000) for the match.
Click here for more data from Nielsen.