New Record for World Cup Viewership in U.S.

NEW YORK: The World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands garnered a total of 24.3 million viewers in the U.S. on ABC and Univision, making it the most-watched soccer game in the country’s TV history, according to data from The Nielsen Company.

Sunday’s game, which saw Spain take the win for its first World Cup title, was seen by 15.5 million viewers on ABC. An additional 8.8 million watched the Spanish-language coverage on Univision. The viewing for the final surpassed the record of 19.4 million viewers that tuned in to ABC and Univision for the U.S.-Ghana match earlier in the World Cup.

Overall, viewership was up 41 percent from the English-language World Cup telecasts four years ago. Coverage on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 averaged a 2.1 rating, 2.3 million households and 3.2 million viewers for the 64 World Cup games. The rating was up 31 percent from the 1.6 posted four years ago, while households increased 32 percent from 1.7 million and viewers rose from 2.3 million.

Viewership in the U.S. was at its highest when the home team was playing in the tournament. Through the first 50 games, the rating was up 48 percent, households increased 54 percent and viewers increased 60 percent.