2017 Champions League final hits 3 million viewers

More than 3 million viewers watched the 2017 UEFA Champions League final on FOX and FOX Deportes combined, according to Showbuzz Daily.

The Real Madrid-Juventus final was shown live on both the English-language FOX network and Spanish-language FOX Deportes channel. The FOX network broadcast averaged 1,762,000 viewers, while the FOX Deportes broadcast had 1,241,000 people tuning in to watch the 4-1 victory for Real Madrid. Altogether, the viewing number was 3,003,000.

The viewing number narrowly beat the 2016 UEFA Champions League final game, which was watched by 3 million people across FOX and ESPN Deportes. Compared to last year’s final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid on the FOX network, the 2017 UEFA Champions League had 80,000 more viewers (a 4.75% increase). The 2016 final had 1,682,000 viewers on the FOX network.

On the Spanish-language ESPN Deportes last year, 1.3 million people watched the game — slightly more than the FOX Deportes number for this year’s final.

Given the recent slump in TV ratings across the sports industry, the fact that this year’s final was able to narrowly beat last year’s number is a huge plus for FOX Sports and the US soccer industry in general.

Coverage of the Real Madrid-Juventus final began at 2:45pm ET on Saturday, June 3. Meanwhile, Saturday’s Champions League final delivered an average audience of 56,116 viewers for both the English and Spanish streams on the FOX Sports Go streaming platform.

Lead play-by-play announcer John Strong and analyst Brad Friedel called the match live from Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, with Geoff Shreeves reporting from the sidelines. Rob Stone anchored studio coverage from the FOX broadcast center in Los Angeles alongside studio analysts Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda and Warren Barton, with special reports from Kate Abdo from Cardiff.