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The game was a letdown for fans of the U.S. men’s soccer team, but the TV audience set another record for the sport in this country.
Early Nielsen ratings show 30 million people watched Fox’s telecast of Belgium’s 4-1 victory over the United States Monday night in the World Cup‘s round of 16. That figure is likely to go up when final ratings, which will include Nielsen’s big data component and more complete out of home figures, are released later in the week.
The preliminary ratings, however, easily clear the previous all-time high for an English-langauge soccer telecast in the United States. That record of 26.4 million viewers lasted all of five days — it was set in the previous U.S. match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1.
The audience peaked at 36.9 million viewers from 9:15-9:30 p.m., partway through the second half. Data for Telemundo and Peacock’s Spanish-language telecast wasn’t immediately available, but it’s likely the combined total will pass 40 million viewers.
