The World Cup audience for the U.S. Men’s National Team just keeps getting bigger.
Fox reported a preliminary figure of 24.4 million viewers for Wednesday night’s match between the U.S. and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Meanwhile, Spanish-language partner Telemundo announced an early figure of 9.1 million viewers on its platform.
These numbers are not the official figures because they do not include Nielsen’s fairly recent Big Data methodology, which includes information from sources such as set-top boxes and smart TVs. The full rating is not expected until Monday, a spokesperson for Fox confirmed to Front Office Sports.
Both networks have seen massive numbers for the U.S. matches, but Wednesday’s primetime clash takes the cake. Fox said its audience peaked at about 31.9 million viewers. These figures are setting records for soccer audiences, with Fox announcing the preliminary number as the most-watched English-language soccer broadcast in U.S. history, and Telemundo saying it’s “on track” to become the biggest Spanish-language audience for a U.S. soccer match.
Wednesday night was the first U.S. match of the knockout rounds, in the new Round of 32 created this year as part of the expanded 48-team World Cup. After striker Folarin Balogun put the U.S. up 1–0, he received a controversial red card early in the second half, and the team had to play with a man down for the rest of the match. But the U.S. handled the pressure, and Malik Tillman drove a free kick home that sealed the 2–0 victory.
