Americans have had a wealth of soccer to enjoy with the Copa America and Euro 2024 happening at the same time. FOX’s Summer of Soccer has been a raving success, with the broadcaster airing almost every game of both tournaments. Despite the United States hosting the Copa America for the second time, fewer fans are tuning into the tournament of the Americas than the European Championship. Moreover, Euro 2024 is averaging over double the viewers on FOX compared to the 2024 Copa America on Fox Sports 1.
According to FOX’s reports on its viewership for the two tournaments, Euro 2024 is a massive success. In the quarterfinals late last week, FOX’s coverage of the Euros averaged 3.569 million viewers. Each of the four games in that stage was available on FOX, with France-Portugal leading the way. For reference, that game had 4.284 million viewers. Peak audiences were strong as well. Over 5.7 million viewers watched the penalty shootout between France and Portugal. The Netherlands-Turkey and England-Switzerland also had peak audiences surpassing 4 million viewers on FOX.
The Copa America, relatively speaking, has been a success, too. However, compared to the European Championship, the audience pales. The Average quarterfinal viewership of the Copa America in the quarterfinals was 1.668 million. There were strong audiences to go around, highlighted by the 2.144 million people who watched the Uruguay-Brazil game. Even a game like Colombia-Panama, which may not be the most desirable game for American audiences pulled 1.187 million viewers on average. Overall, Copa America quarterfinal viewership was up 420% compared to 2021 and 40% compared to Copa America in 2016.
FOX has been careful to note that the strong viewership for Copa America has broken records specific to Fox Sports 1. Uruguay-Brazil’s average audience of 2.144 million was the second most watched non-USMNT soccer match outside of the World Cup in FS1 history. That is a mouthful that says two things. On one hand, the USMNT viewership will always reign supreme for FOX and Fox Sports 1. Secondly, fans still want to tune in for games involving top teams. That raises serious hypotheticals as to what Fox Sports 1 viewership could have looked like for Copa America had the USMNT or even Mexico advanced.
Another factor to consider is these games’ channels. FOX has a significantly larger reach than Fox Sports 1. As a broadcast channel, any viewer with an antenna or TV subscription has access to FOX. Therefore, the pool to pick from for Euro 2024 games is higher among American audiences.
There are other reasons to explain why the Euros are so popular. Star power plays a role in both competitions, but it is simply more common in Europe. France has Kylian Mbappe, and Portugal has Cristiano Ronaldo. England has a host of Premier League stars to go along with Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham. By comparison, Copa America has Lionel Messi, Darwin Núñez, Colombia’s Luis Diaz, and Alphonso Davies in the semifinals. With Messi and Ronaldo effectively canceling one another out in terms of draw, the European Championship has more reason for a casual fan to tune in.
Take the Portugal-France game, which leads the way among viewership of the quarterfinals of FOX’s summer of soccer. Having Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo on hand pulled in millions. It comfortably topped England, which would be the top team to watch for many Americans given the connection to the Premier League.
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