Most-watched soccer games on US TV for June 2-19, 2018

The first round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup has concluded with Telemundo just slightly edging out FOX Sports in viewership. Telemundo averaged 1.968 million viewers through the first 16 matches of the tournament while FOX averaged 1.963 million viewers across the FOX broadcast network and FOX Sports 1. So far, TV viewership from the U.S. has dropped about 44% compared with the last tournament in 2014, according to data from Nielsen.

Telemundo is in more than 53 million homes in the United States. FOX Sports, who have been broadcasting games on the over-the-air FOX network and FS1, are in 116 million homes (FOX) and 84 million homes (FS1) respectively.

Sunday’s FOX Sports 1 triple header delivered the network their two most-watched men’s soccer games ever with both surpassing four million viewers.

Mexico’s 1-0 victory over Germany drew an additional 7.12 million viewers to Telemundo, making it the most-watched Mexico Group Stage World Cup Game ever on any network and Telemundo’s most-watched sporting event in history.

Total television viewership reached its highest point thus far on Sunday for Mexico’s match against defending champions Germany with 11.12 million tuning in on FOX Sports 1 and Telemundo. Viewership hit its lowest point just a day earlier with only 1.286 million watching Australia take on France also on FOX Sports 1 and Telemundo.

Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for June 2-19, 2018:

Rank	Date	Competition	Teams	TV1	TV2	Total
1	6/17/18	World Cup	Germany / Mexico	FS1; 4,002,000	Telemundo; 7,120,000	11,122,000
2	6/17/18	World Cup	Brazil / Switzerland	FS1; 4,086,000	Telemundo; 4,350,000	8,436,000
3	6/16/18	World Cup	Argentina / Iceland	FOX; 2,973,000	Telemundo; 2,210,000	5,183,000
4	6/15/18	World Cup	Portugal / Spain	FOX; 2,924,000	Telemundo; 1,840,000	4,764,000
5	6/16/18	World Cup	Peru / Denmark	FS1; 2,001,000	Telemundo; 2,450,000	4,451,000
6	6/16/18	World Cup	Croatia / Nigeria	FS1; 2,178,000	Telemundo; 1,930,000	4,108,000
7	6/17/18	World Cup	Costa Rica / Serbia	FOX; 1,826,000	Telemundo; 1,660,000	3,486,000
8	6/18/18	World Cup	Tunisia / England	FS1; 1,931,000	Telemundo; 1,430,000	3,361,000
9	6/19/18	World Cup	Russia / Egypt	FOX; 1,957,000	Telemundo; 1,260,000	3,217,000
10	6/14/18	World Cup	Russia / Saudi Arabia	FOX; 1,678,000	Telemundo; 1,370,000	3,048,000
11	6/18/18	World Cup	Belgium / Panama	FS1; 1,364,000	Telemundo; 1,600,000	2,964,000
12	6/19/18	World Cup	Poland / Senegal	FOX; 1,647,000	Telemundo; 1,200,000	2,847,000
13	6/19/18	World Cup	Colombia / Japan	FS1; 953,000	Telemundo; 1,520,000	2,473,000
14	6/15/18	World Cup	Morocco / Iran	FOX; 1,518,000	Telemundo; 949000	2,467,000
15	6/15/18	World Cup	Egypt / Uruguay	FS1; 782,000	Telemundo; 1,190,000	1,972,000
16	6/18/18	World Cup	Sweden / Korea	FS1; 750,000	Telemundo; 746,000	1,496,000
17	6/2/18	Int’l Friendly	Mexico / Scotland	FS1; —	Univision; 1,777,000	1,777,000
18	6/16/18	World Cup	France / Australia	FS1; 796,000	Telemundo; 490,000	1,286,000
19	6/9/18	Int’l Friendly	Denmark / Mexico	Univision; 734,000	UDN; 470,000	1,204,000
20	6/9/18	Int’l Friendly	France / USMNT	ESPN; 697,000	UniMás; 395000	1,092,000
21	6/2/18	Int’l Friendly	Ireland / USMNT	ESPN2; 453,000	UniMás; 303,000	756,000
22	6/7/18	Int’l Friendly (W)	USWNT / China	FS1; 247,000	UDN; 72000	319,000
23	6/9/18	MLS	Columbus Crew / New York Red Bulls	ESPN; 292,000	ESPND; —	292,000
24	6/2/18	MLS	Portland Timbers / LA Galaxy	ESPN2; 272,000	ESPND; —	272,000