TV data company Alphonso offers World Cup insights into the U.S. Spanish-language market

As World Cup fever continues to drive soccer fans wild, TV data company Alphonso announced trends among English-language and Spanish-language viewership.

According to Alphonso data, approximately 20 percent of all viewing came from the New York City (11%) and Los Angeles (9%) markets. This was even more concentrated among Spanish-language viewing audiences. Nearly 30% of all viewing of Spanish-language FIFA coverage came from Los Angeles (16%), New York (6.8%), and Miami (6%). There was also strong Spanish-language tune-in from San Francisco (4.8%) and Houston (3.7%)

“There is no question that big city fandom fueled viewing. Major markets such as New York and Los Angeles took the lead in World Cup watchers in the U.S.—and urban centers like Miami, San Francisco, and Houston also held their own when it came to Hispanic FIFA fans, who wanted to watch the matches on Spanish-language TV networks,” said Allen Bush, CMO, Alphonso.

The top matches overall on English-language networks in the U.S. (FOX and FOX Sports 1) were Germany vs. Mexico and Germany vs. Sweden. In comparison, the most popular matches on Spanish-language TV networks in the U.S. were Croatia vs. Nigeria and Denmark vs. France.

In addition, Alphonso data shows that there was a steady climb in overall U.S. viewership during the Round of 16 bracket matches, with average game viewership increasing by 50 percent. The most popular match in the round was France vs. Argentina, followed by Croatia vs. Denmark, and Uruguay vs. Portugal.