The FIFA men’s World Cup, not surprisingly, is drawing record-level television audiences, and there’s a not-so-secret factor that’s fueling the historic audiences: large-scale out-of-home viewership.
From small towns to big cities all across the U.S., watch parties have been a critical factor behind the unprecedented viewership of the tournament so far, and they are poised to be an even bigger driver during the ongoing knockout round.
Through the now-completed group stage, Fox saw its English-language World Cup audience soar 92% compared to 2022 to 5.05 million viewers, while Telemundo’s Spanish-language viewership increased 122% to an average of 4.6 million.
Watch Parties and Bars
Within that, out-of-home viewership represents about 25% of each network’s total, according to Nielsen data. While that percentage varies among individual matches, and in some cases has neared 40%, it has consistently remained among the strongest figures among all U.S. television programming.
