El Clasico Supercopa achieves record number on ABC

The latest installment of El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid reached impressive viewership here in the United States.

The two massive Spanish sides faced off in the Supercopa de España Final on Sunday, January 15th.

Although the match consisted of two LaLiga clubs, the epic matchup was played in Saudi Arabia. A similar move was recently made with the Supercoppa Italiana as well.

Barca and Real advanced to the tournament championship by winning their semifinal fixtures.

Real first edged crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid 5-3 in extra time. Barca, on the other hand, took care of Osasuna 2-0 in their matchup. The quartet was determined by last season’s LaLiga and Copa del Rey competitions.

Massive match aired on ABC in an attempt to reach more viewers

As the Supercopa de España obviously features Spanish clubs, ESPN/ABC broadcasted the match here Stateside. The massive company currently owns exclusive media rights to LaLiga teams. In fact, the two sides will remain in partnership until 2029.

ESPN made the move to air the match on ABC, mostly due to the popular teams involved. Both Barca and Real are among the most followed soccer clubs in the entire country. The decision certainly paid off for the network.

The public relations department at ESPN has now announced that 1.1 million people watched last Sunday’s El Classico on ABC. This is a huge 72% increase from the prior season. Overall, viewership of the complete Supercopa de España tournament was also up 45% compared to the 2023 version.

It was also revealed that figures from ESPN Deportes added another 300,000 viewers to the match. In total, 1.4 million fans watched Barca take on Real at the weekend.

This was slightly higher than the viewership recorded during NBC/Universo’s broadcast of Manchester City versus Newcastle the day before.

Nevertheless, the impressive Supercopa de España numbers were fairly significantly higher than Liga MX matchups at the same weekend.

The Mexican top flight has historically been the most-watched soccer league in the States. This means that even Major League Soccer is not the big kahuna in its own country. The English Premier League, however, has since taken the top spot in recent weeks.

Real dominated Barca in Supercopa de España Final

With over a million American viewers looking on, Real put on a show against their bitter rivals. Star forward Vinicius Junior netted a first-half hat trick to put Los Blancos ahead early on. Robert Lewandowski did score in the middle of the Brazilian’s epic display, but Real took a 3-1 lead into the halftime break.

Fellow Brazilian Rodrygo increased his club’s advantage with a goal in the 64th minute. The match was then essentially over after Barca defender Ronald Araujo was sent off just seven minutes later. Real’s triumph at the latest competition was their 13th Supercopa de España title. Only Barca currently has more trophies at the tournament.

ESPN/ABC will be hoping that they can now build on the latest broadcasting figures. The two top Spanish teams are set to face off once again, this time in league play, come April. Barca will be looking for payback when they travel to Madrid for the match.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Marca