beIN SPORTS’ live coverage of el Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona on December 23 averaged 845,000 viewers in the United States across the English-language beIN SPORTS and Spanish-language beIN SPORTS en Español networks.

beIN SPORTS’ December broadcast of el Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona was always going to be a struggle due to the exceptionally early kickoff time of 7am ET/4pm PT. In comparison, the April 2017 broadcast averaged 1.6 million viewers on the beIN SPORTS networks, while last summer’s el Clásico Miami netted 1.7 million viewers on ESPN. Thankfully for beIN SPORTS, the May 2018 el Clásico will be aired live in the afternoon.

Despite the challenging kickoff time, El Clásico was the number one sports program among all ad-supported sports cable networks among all key demos during that timeframe. The 845,000 total average viewers outperformed ESPN by 83% and NBCSN by 431% in that timeslot. On NBCSN, the network aired a live game between Chelsea and Everton from 7:30-9:30am ET.

SEE MORE: Schedule of LaLiga games on US TV and streaming

The highly anticipated El Clásico matchup between LaLiga archrivals Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, which aired live from the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, ended in a 0-3 victory for Barcelona to extend their lead in the Spanish top-flight league.