An average of 18.22 million viewers watched the U.S. tie Portugal (2-2) in World Cup action late Sunday afternoon. That’s the most-watched Soccer match ever on American TV and surpasses the previous high of 17,975,000 viewers for the 1999 Women’s World Cup final (USA vs. China) on ABC. The match aired on ESPN.
The game peaked from 7:30 to 8pmET with an average of 22,961,000 viewers. The match is ESPN’s most-viewed program excluding NFL and college football telecasts. The first World Cup match which saw Team USA in a 2-1 win over Ghana averaged 11,093,000 viewers.
Sunday’s match also set records on the WatchESPN app with a total of 1,373,000 viewers and 61,691,000 minutes viewed.
Over on Univision, coverage of the USA vs. Portugal match was also the most-viewed USA match in Univision Deportes World Cup history. The match averaged 6.5 million Total Viewers and 3.6 million A18-49 viewers. The match aired on the Univision Network, and simulcast on the Univision Deportes cable network.