FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM continues to engage TV audiences around the world in unprecedented numbers in multiple markets. The group game between Japan and Costa Rica on November 27 drew an average audience of 36.37 million viewers in Japan. This was over 10 million more than the audience for their incredible comeback against Germany in their tournament opener and 74% more than the average domestic group stage audience during the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
The record-breaking TV audience for FIFA
On Thursday, November 24, 11, 14 million people in the Korean Republic watched their tournament opener against Uruguay. The TV audience was 97% higher than the average for group-stage matches at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and 18% higher than in Russia in 2018. Fans in Europe have also been tuning in in large numbers for the second round of group-stage matches. On Sunday, November 28, 65% of Spanish viewers tuned in to watch La Roja take on Germany in one of the tournament’s most anticipated games so far. The combined audience for coverage on La1 and GOL MUNDIAL was 11.9 million, exceeding the audience for any group-stage game in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
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Incredibly, more than three-quarters (76.6%) of all Dutch TV viewers saw Cody Gakpo’s wonder strike in their 1-1 tie with Ecuador. This had the highest TV audience in the country in 2022, and it was larger than any match during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The match between Les Bleus and Denmark was broadcast on TF1 in France. The show had an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, but it peaked in the final minutes of the game when 14.56 million people watched Kylian Mbappe score a late winner. This was the tournament’s highest peak in France thus far, surpassing 14 million viewers during France’s opening match against Australia.
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The match between Portugal and Uruguay on Monday, November 28th, had the highest TV audience in Portugal for a FIFA World Cup match ever. In total, 5.35 million Portuguese viewers watched at least one minute of coverage as the team advanced to the knockout stages. The coverage had a 69.5% audience share as A Seleço won their second game in a row at the tournament. Over 80% of Portuguese TV viewers have now seen at least one minute of tournament coverage.
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Furthermore, interest in the beautiful game in the United States is growing, with new records being set on a regular basis. The English-language coverage of the United States match against England on November 25 was the most watched men’s football match ever on US television, with a peak audience of 19.65 million viewers on FOX. The match’s Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo by NBC-Universal was the second-most watched FIFA World Cup group stage match featuring a US team in Spanish-language history.
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The following day, as Argentina and Mexico met in a crucial Group C tie, the Telemundo broadcast in the United States was the most-watched FIFA World Cup Group Stage match in the country’s Spanish-language history, and the second largest of any stage ever. Meanwhile, coverage of the same match in Mexico attracted a national audience of 20.96 million viewers. The combined share of the three channels that aired the game was 67.9%. This was higher than the highest combined rating in the territory for any FIFA World Cup match in 2018.
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Furthermore, the average audience in Canada for their pivotal match against Croatia was 4.33 million, with a share of 68.4%. This was 17% higher than Canada’s opening match and 12% higher than the territory’s top combined audience for the 2018 tournament. South America’s passion for the game knows no bounds, with fans as engaged as ever. In Argentina, the average audience for the two-time FIFA World Cup winners in their pivotal match against Mexico was 8.48 million, representing an incredible audience share of 81.3%. The audience for the program was the highest of the tournament so far in the country, and it was 5% higher than both their first match against Saudi Arabia and the average audience for their group stage matches.
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