FOX had coverage of both the Euro 2024 and Copa America Final on Sunday, and the viewership for both games was strong. The first of those two games was Spain against England. The Spanish defeated the Three Lions of England after an 88th-minute goal from Mikel Oyarzabal. That evening, Argentina defeated Colombia in extra time after a wealth of drama polluted the game. Yet, despite those off-field issues in CONMEBOL’s showpiece contest, FOX reported the biggest viewership of the tournament.
Despite a favored original start time, the Copa America could not match the viewership from Sunday’s European Championship Final. The European Championship Final, which started at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, averaged 6.43 million viewers on FOX. By comparison, 6.019 million people tuned in for the Copa America Final in the evening. Both games would, by all accounts, be the most-watched games of their respective tournaments. They cap off strong viewership figures throughout the tournament. Even the group-stage games were setting records for Copa America and European Championship viewership.
There are several reasons to explain the Euros surpassing the Copa America in terms of viewership. For one, England is a driving force for viewership of the Euros. The side reaching the European Championship Final would have compounded strong audiences from the semifinals and quarterfinals that featured Gareth Southgate’s squad. That helped make it the most-watched Euro telecast in US TV history, a strong indication of European soccer’s popularity in the United States.
The Copa America Final performed well. The 6.019 million viewers on average made it the most-watched Copa America Final telecast in US TV history. However, several things went awry for FOX, none of it coming down to the broadcaster itself. The game was meant to start at 8 p.m., a prime slot for American viewership. However, fans barging through the entrance to the stadium delayed the game by 82 minutes. Therefore, the game kicked off at 9:22 p.m. local time. That is exceedingly late for many American audiences. Again, this is no fault of FOX. The analysts in the studio did their best to maintain interest during a wildly long delay for kickoff.
Additionally, President Joe Biden addressed the nation following a calamitous political weekend in the United States. FOX had live coverage of his address. That said, fans did switch over to Fox Sports 1 to watch coverage of Copa America, and then switched over to FOX later after Biden’s speech ended. That divide could have split the audience for FOX, bringing down the average of the actual contest.
Combined viewership of the Copa America between English- and Spanish-language coverage was record-breaking, too. FOX and Univision combined for 11.2 million viewers. That is the same as the five-game average of this past season’s NBA Finals. FOX and Univision will greatly celebrate the success in terms of viewership this summer, as the former prepares for the 2026 World Cup, which will also be record-breaking.
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