The year is drawing to a close and that means it is time to take a look at the 2022 USMNT TV ratings.
This year was different for the US than any other year for some time. The USMNT returned to the World Cup after missing out on the 2018 edition of the tournament. Consequently, the side saw a tremendous boost in its TV ratings.
The World Cup year is one thing. However, the lateness of the tournament meant qualifying happened earlier in the year. Having both qualifying games and the tournament itself in the same calendar year proved to be a boom for the US. Here’s the viewership numbers, both in English and in Spanish.
2022 USMNT TV ratings
| Opponent | Event | English viewers | Spanish viewers | Total viewers |
| El Salvador | WCQ | 727,000 | 122,000 | 849,000 |
| Canada | WCQ | N/A | 210,000 | 210,000 |
| Honduras | WCQ | 843,000 | 237,000 | 1,080,000 |
| Mexico | WCQ | N/A | 3,000,000 | 3,000.000 |
| Panama | WCQ | 1,036,000 | 177,000 | 1,213,000 |
| Costa Rica | WCQ | N/A | 166,000 | 166,000 |
| Morocco | Friendly | 457,000 | 159,000 | 616,000 |
| Uruguay | Friendly | 866,000 | 322,000 | 1,188,000 |
| Grenada | CNL | N/A | 127,000 | 127,000 |
| El Salvador | CNL | 394,000 | 308,000 | 702,000 |
| Japan | Friendly | 175,000 | N/A | 175,000 |
| Saudi Arabia | Friendly | 226,000 | N/A | 226,000 |
| Wales | WC | 7,761,000 | 2,292,000 | 10,053,000 |
| England | WC | 15,491,000 | 3,240,000 | 18,731,000 |
| Iran | WC | 12,365,000 | 2,215,000 | 14,580,000 |
| Netherlands | WC | 13,265,000 | 2,092,000 | 15,357,000 |
English-language takeaways
The English-language viewing average of 4,467,167 per game is up an astounding 499% over the 745,625 English-language viewers per game in 2021. It also represents an increase of 4% from the last time the US made the World Cup in 2014 when they averaged 4,306,933 English-language viewers per game over the course of 15 games.
Spanish-language takeaways
Unlike the English-language viewership, the Spanish-language viewership of 1,047,643 viewers per game is not a massive increase from 2021. In fact it is a drop of 1% from 1,061,421 viewers per game. The reason for that is two-fold. For one, 2021 saw the US play against Mexico three times. The two only played once in 2022. Also, the away qualifiers that were not shown on English language TV were shown on Spanish language TV but drew very poorly.
Overall
All in all 2022 was a very good year for the USMNT on television. The combined viewership average of 4,267,063 this year represents an increase of 193% from last year when the combined average was 1,458,909. That makes 2022 the most watched year for the USMNT since 2014 when the combined average was 5,631,133 per game. With the next World Cup here in the US, expect those number to be even better than these.
PHOTO: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
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