Belgium-U.S. Draws Combined 21.59 Million Viewers on ESPN, Univision

ESPN and Univision combined to draw 21.59 million viewers for the Belgium-U.S. FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match yesterday. ESPN’s 16.49 million viewers marks the third-best audience for a soccer match in U.S. TV history, behind only ESPN’s U.S.-Portugal match on June 22 (18.22 million) and the '99 U.S.-China Women’s World Cup Final on ABC (17.98 million).

Univision finished with 5.1 million viewers for Belgium-U.S. That figure is below the net’s 6.5 million viewers for U.S.-Portugal, and well below the net’s 10.4 million viewers for the Netherlands-Mexico Round of 16 match on Sunday, which marked the most-viewed Spanish-language program in U.S. TV history. The audience for Belgium-U.S. was ahead of the 4.2 million viewers Univision drew in '02 for the U.S.-Mexico Round of 16 match.