• by Wayne Friedman , December 20, 2022

The FIFA World Cup Finals -- where Argentina beat France in overtime, decided by penalty kicks -- scored a record 16.8 million Nielsen-measured viewers for Fox Television Network/Fox Sports streaming services -- the highest U.S. TV viewing ever for an English-language soccer match.

The previous record was set earlier in the event, when the U.S. team tied England in a group match -- earning 15.5 million viewers.

All 64 game airings over the month-long event -- including Spanish-language U.S. TV network airings -- posted a 29% increase to just over 9.5 billion TV advertising household impressions versus the previous World Cup event four years ago, according to iSpot.tv.

Looking specifically at NBCU's Spanish-language networks --- including Telemundo and Universo -- TV ad impressions for World Cup coverage more than doubled compared to 2018 with 5.57 billion linear TV ad impressions. NBCU also aired the event on streaming platform Peacock.

Data from iSpot.tv does not include streaming or person-level measurement for network programs -- only household TV ad impressions counted across broadcasts in linear TV. 

Advertising impressions referenced to TV commercials are measured for a minimum of three seconds of viewing.

Some 367 TV advertisers made appearances over the entire World Cup. Brands such as Coca-Cola, Verizon, and Google Pixel gained the most TV advertising exposure time, according to iSpot.

For the entire 64 games, four Fox networks -- including Fox Television Network and Fox Sports 1 -- pulled in $146.2 million in national TV advertising, according to iSpot estimates.

Spanish-language NBCUniversal networks -- Telemundo and Universo -- totaled $136.3 million.