The US men's national team officially broke the record for most-watched soccer telecast in US history twice in a row. As disappointing as Monday's 4-1 last-16 loss to Belgium was for fans, the pregame excitement helped attract 33.086 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media research. The audience peaked at 41.033 million during the 9.15-9.30pm eastern time window.
Record-breaking viewership across networks
According to Fox, the World Cup English-language rightsholder in the US, it was the most-watched domestic telecast of any kind, on any network, since Super Bowl LX brought in 125.6 million in February. Fox also said it was the most-watched non-NFL telecast on any network since Game 7 of baseball's 2016 World Series.
The USMNT had previously set a new mark in their last-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose final English-language TV audience tally came to 26.4 million.
Non-USMNT matches also draw huge audiences
Americans are tuning in to see more than just the home team. Nielsen Media research also confirmed this week that 21.742 million viewers watched the Mexico v England last-16 match Sunday on Fox. That was the most-watched non-USMNT World Cup telecast in English-language US history. Adding the audiences from Telemundo and Peacock, the match averaged a whopping 44.84 million.
Those final numbers blew away the New York Knicks' title-clinching Game 5 win of the NBA Finals (24.5 million) and rivaled the AFC and NFC championship games, which had 48.6 million and 46.1 million on average, respectively.
