The FIFA World Cup is off to a strong ratings start, with over 20 million viewers tuning in for Thursday’s Mexico-South Africa matchup.
The game scored 13.4 million viewers across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo Deportes’ digital platforms for Spanish-language coverage as well as 7.19 million viewers across Fox, Fox One and Tubi for English-language coverage, according to live-plus-same-day Nielsen figures.
Mexico’s victory over South Africa broke records across platforms, with the Spanish-language coverage drawing the most-watched FIFA World Cup opening game in history, regardless of language, as well as the most-watched men’s match in Spanish-language television history. Viewership was up 229% from the 2022 World Cup kickoff.
The English-language coverage also set records, marking the most-watched FIFA men’s World Cup opening match in U.S. English-language history, as well as the most-watched FIFA men’s World Cup match in English-language U.S. history when excluding U.S. men’s national team group-stage games. Viewership for the match was up 150% from the 2022 World Cup opening match on Fox Sports 1.
The Mexico-South Africa match also marked the most-streamed English-language opening match in FIFA World Cup history.
On Telemundo alone, the Mexico-South Africa match averaged 7.6 million total viewers and peaked with 9.3 million viewers, becoming the highest-rated telecast in Telemundo’s history.
Friday’s game between the U.S. and Paraguay has already scored some impressive preliminary numbers, with its English-language coverage scoring 15.99 million viewers, per preliminary Nielsen fast nationals, and the Spanish-language coverage tallying 8.9 million viewers, marking the most-watched U.S. men’s national team match in Spanish-language history.
The English-language coverage also marked the most-watched U.S. men’s national team World Cup telecast in English-language U.S. history as well as the most-streamed English-language U.S. men’s national team match on record. Viewership for the game, which peaked with 18.86 viewers from 10:45-11 p.m. ET, was up 106% from the first FIFA men’s word cup U.S. men’s national team match group stage telecast on Fox.
