Suddenly, soccer sells.
Friday afternoon’s match between the United States and Australia from Lumen Field in Seattle generated a combined audience of more than 20.68 million on Fox, Telemundo, and Peacock.
Fox announced preliminary viewership of 14.781 million for the match that began at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday. According to NBC, the Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo and Peacock averaged 5.9 million.
Both numbers are preliminary. The official numbers likely will be higher.
Via Matt Clapp of Awful Announcing, the Fox broadcast was the most-watched show on a Friday afternoon since the U.S. faced England in the 2022 World Cup. That match averaged 15.38 million viewers.
The audience for U.S. vs. Australia on Fox peaked from 4:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, with 19.169 million. That’s more than the 18.86 million peak for the U.S. vs. Paraguay, which had a higher total average on Fox, at 18.037 million.
The U.S. finishes group play on Thursday, June 25, against Turkey. The match starts at 10:00 p.m. ET. With the U.S. already clinching the group crown (and with Turkey eliminated), the match is essentially a friendly.