Saturday’s El Clásico clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid easily registered as beIN SPORTS’ most-viewed La Liga match of the 2016-17 season thus far. However, the match saw a nearly 500,000 viewer decrease from April 2’s meeting earlier this year.
Sunday’s second-leg matchup between Club América and Club Necaxa attracted an audience of 2.767 million on Univision and Univision Deportes. The series between both clubs averaged just under 2 million viewers as Club América booked their spot in the 2016 Apertura Final. Mexican soccer fanatics will be forced to wait until Christmas day to see who will be crowned champion as Club América must travel to Japan to participate in the Club World Cup. Club América will open their tournament December 11 against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The game can be viewed on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes.
FOX Sports’ coverage of the U-20 Women’s World Cup concluded Saturday morning as 15,000 people watched North Korea defeat France 3-1 to win the tournament. Just a few hours before, 34,000 people tuned in to watch the United States fall in the third place match to Japan. The tournament drew an average audience of 25,000 viewers for the 26/31 matches with available data. Viewership peaked surprisingly on the morning of November 20 as Nielsen reported an average audience of 89,000 for a match between Canada and Japan on FOX Sports 1. The United States Women’s six matches on FOX Sports 1 averaged 44,000 viewers.
Here are the most-watched soccer games on US TV for November 29-December 5, 2016:
| Rank | Home | Away | Competition | Date | TV1 | TV2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | América | Necaxa | Liga MX | 12/4/16 | Univision; 1502000 | UDN; 1265000 | 2,767,000 |
| 2 | Barcelona | Real Madrid | La Liga | 12/3/16 | beIN; 520000 | beIE; 913000 | 1,433,000 |
| 3 | Necaxa | América | Liga MX | 12/1/16 | —; — | UDN; 1144000 | 1,144,000 |
| 4 | West Ham United | Arsenal | Premier League | 12/3/16 | NBC; 917000 | Unvso; 36000 | 953,000 |
| 5 | Tigres | León | Liga MX | 12/3/16 | —; — | UDN; 764000 | 764,000 |
| 6 | Everton | Man Utd | Premier League | 12/4/16 | NBCSN; 550000 | —; — | 550,000 |
| 7 | Man City | Chelsea | Premier League | 12/3/16 | NBCSN; 393000 | Unvso; 52000 | 445,000 |
| 8 | Bournemouth | Liverpool | Premier League | 12/4/16 | NBCSN; 373000 | —; — | 373,000 |
| 9 | Spurs | Swansea City | Premier League | 12/3/16 | NBCSN; 360000 | Unvso; 9000 | 369,000 |
| 10 | Hércules | Barcelona | Copa Del Rey | 11/30/16 | —; — | beIE; 176000 | 176,000 |
| 11 | Real Madrid | Leonesa | Copa Del Rey | 11/30/16 | beIN; 54000 | beIE; 99000 | 153,000 |
| 12 | Atlético Madrid | Espanyol | La Liga | 12/3/16 | —; — | beIE; 137000 | 137,000 |
| 13 | Man Utd | West Ham | EFL Cup | 11/30/16 | beIN; 101000 | —; — | 101,000 |
| 14 | Middlesbrough | Hull City | Premier League | 12/5/16 | NBCSN; 101000 | —; — | 101,000 |
| 15 | Valencia | Malaga | La Liga | 12/4/16 | ; — | beIE; 88000 | 88,000 |
| 16 | Leverkusen | Fereiburg | Bundesliga | 12/3/16 | FS2; 6000 | FOXD; 80000 | 86,000 |
| 17 | Augsburg | Frankfurt | Bundesliga | 12/4/16 | FS1; 66000 | FOXD; 16000 | 82,000 |
| 18 | Mainz | Bayern | Bundesliga | 12/2/16 | FS1; 68000 | —; — | 68,000 |
| 19 | United States | North Korea | U20 World Cup (W) | 11/29/16 | FS1; 40000 | Unvso; 25000 | 65,000 |
| 20 | Leganes | Villarreal | La Liga | 12/3/16 | —; — | beIE; 64000 | 64,000 |
| 21 | Dortmund | Mönchengladbach | Bundesliga | 12/3/16 | FS1; 62000 | —; — | 62,000 |
| 22 | Darmstadt | Hamburg | Bundesliga | 12/4/16 | FS1; 45000 | FOXD; 15000 | 60,000 |
| 23 | Porto | Sporting Braga | Primeira Liga | 12/3/16 | —; — | UDN; 59000 | 59,000 |
| 24 | Alaves | Las Palmas | La Liga | 12/4/16 | ; — | beIE; 48000 | 48,000 |
| 25 | Real Betis | Deportivo | Copa Del Rey | 11/29/16 | —; — | beIE; 44000 | 44,000 |
| 26 | Liverpool | Leeds Utd | EFL Cup | 11/29/16 | beIN; 44000 | —; — | 44,000 |
| 27 | Granada | Sevilla | La Liga | 12/3/16 | —; — | beIE; 44000 | 44,000 |
| 28 | Athletic Bilbao | Eibar | La Liga | 12/4/16 | ; — | beIE; 42000 | 42,000 |
| 29 | Juventus | Atalanta | Serie A | 12/3/16 | beIN; 42000 | —; — | 42,000 |
| 30 | Lazio | Roma | Serie A | 12/4/16 | beIN; 35000 | —; — | 35,000 |
| 31 | Leganes | Valencia | Copa Del Rey | 11/29/16 | —; — | beIE; 34000 | 34,000 |
| 32 | United States | Japan | U20 World Cup (W) | 12/3/16 | FS1; 34000 | —; — | 34,000 |
| 33 | Crystal Palace | Southampton | Premier League | 12/3/16 | CNBC; 29000 | —; — | 29,000 |
| 34 | Leipzig | Schalke | Bundesliga | 12/3/16 | FS2; 25000 | —; — | 25,000 |
| 35 | Deportivo | Real Sociedad | La Liga | 12/5/16 | —; — | beIE; 24000 | 24,000 |
| 36 | Napoli | Inter Milan | Serie A | 12/2/16 | beIN; 13000 | beIE; 11000 | 24,000 |
| 37 | Racing Santander | Athletic Bilbao | Copa Del Rey | 12/1/16 | —; — | beIE; 21000 | 21,000 |
| 38 | QPR | Wolverhamton | Championship | 12/1/16 | beIN; 17000 | —; — | 17,000 |
| 39 | North Korea | France | U20 World Cup (W) | 12/3/16 | FS1; 15000 | —; — | 15,000 |
| 40 | Real Valladolid | Real Sociedad | Copa Del Rey | 12/1/16 | —; — | beIE; 14000 | 14,000 |
| 41 | Fiorentina | Palermo | Serie A | 12/4/16 | beIN; 13000 | —; — | 13,000 |
| 42 | Sporting CP | Vitória Setúbal | Primeira Liga | 12/3/16 | —; — | UDN; 12000 | 12,000 |
| 43 | Marítomo | Benfica | Primeira Liga | 12/2/16 | —; — | UDN; 8000 | 8,000 |
| 44 | Japan | France | U20 World Cup (W) | 11/29/16 | FS1; 8000 | —; — | 8,000 |
| 45 | Udinese | Bologna | Serie A | 12/5/16 | beIN; 6000 | —; — | 6,000 |
| 46 | Chievo | Genoa | Serie A | 12/5/16 | beIN; 5000 | —; — | 5,000 |
2016 MLS TV averages:
| League | Overall | ESPN | ESPN2 | ESPND | FOX | FS1 | FOXD | UniMás/UDN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLS | 276,689 | 290,179 | 201,500 | 46,000 | 658,000 | 154,346 | 34,677 | 218,038 |
| MLS Playoffs | 273,000 | 279,167 | 124,000 | 44,500 | — | 186,000 | 64,667 | 211,750 |
Most-watched leagues on US TV
| League | Average |
|---|---|
| Liga MX | 759,263 |
| Premier League | 442,051 |
| UEFA CL | 353,833 |
| MLS | 276,689 |
| La Liga | 150,551 |
| NWSL | 88,500 |
| Bundesliga | 77,067 |
| Primeira Liga | 34,143 |
| Serie A | 26,971 |
| Championship | 17,684 |
| Ligue 1 | 12,625 |
| NASL | 7,500 |
200+ Channels With Sports & News
- Starting price: $33/mo. for fubo Latino Package
- Watch Premier League, Women’s World Cup, Euro 2024 & Gold Cup
The New Home of MLS
- Price: $14.99/mo. for MLS Season Pass
- Watch every MLS game including playoffs & Leagues Cup
Many Sports & ESPN Originals
- Price: $9.99/mo. (or get ESPN+, Hulu & Disney+ for $12.99/mo.)
- Features Bundesliga, LaLiga, Championship, & FA Cup
2,000+ soccer games per year
- Price: $4.99/mo
- Features Champions League, Serie A, Europa League & Brasileirāo
175 Premier League Games & PL TV
- Starting price: $4.99/mo. for Peacock Premium
- Watch 175 exclusive EPL games per season