World Cup group stage drives record US audiences

The 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage averaged 5.05m viewers across Fox Sports, including pre-match coverage, and 4.6m across Telemundo and Peacock, delivering substantial audience growth for both US rights holders.Fox’s average increased 92% from the 2022 tournament in Qatar, while Telemundo and Peacock recorded a combined rise of 122%.The group stage became the most-watched in World Cup history on English-language US television. It was not immediately clear whether the Spanish-language coverage had also set an all-time record.Comparisons with previous tournaments are affected by changes to Nielsen’s measurement system, including the addition of out-of-home audiences and a new methodology combining smart television and set-top box data with its traditional panel.Streaming accounted for a growing share of Telemundo’s audience, with an average of 2m viewers measured through Adobe Analytics.That represented a 251% increase from 2022 and lifted streaming’s share of Telemundo and Peacock’s combined audience from 28% to 44%.The linear Spanish-language audience averaged 2.6m, up 73% from the previous tournament.United States and Mexico matches generated the strongest audiences, underlining the commercial benefit of staging the competition across North America.The United States’ group match against Turkey averaged 17.02m viewers on Fox, behind only the team’s opening fixture against Paraguay, which drew 18.04m.Those matches rank as the two most-watched men’s World Cup broadcasts in English-language US television history.The United States’ three group fixtures all ranked among the four largest English-language audiences recorded for the men’s tournament.Telemundo and Peacock averaged 7.1m viewers for the United States’ matches, with the Turkey fixture reaching 7.4m and setting a Spanish-language record for the team.Mexico remained the largest draw across the Spanish-language coverage, averaging 12.1m viewers during the group stage.Mexico’s match against South Korea attracted 14m viewers across Telemundo and Peacock, while their fixture against Czechia drew 12.3m.Matches not involving either host nation also delivered significant audiences. Brazil’s fixture against Morocco averaged 10.02m on Fox Sports, while Colombia against Portugal reached 9.23m.The results strengthen the position of Fox, Telemundo and Peacock as the tournament moves into the knockout stage, where higher-profile fixtures and elimination stakes should create further premium advertising inventory.