Watching Euro 2020 has never been more popular in the United States, and this year’s finals were record-breaking.
ESPN’s broadcast of the Italy-England finals last Sunday not only drew millions of football fans, but it was also the most popular Euro match in the history of US television. Still, it didn’t manage to dethrone the 2019 Women’s World Cup finals. More than 14 million Americans tuned in to watch that game, witnessing a historic victory for the US national football team.
In the UK, the Italy-England Euro 2020 final peaked at 31 million viewers.
England’s unsuccessful title bid saw a TV crowd larger than the one watching the London 2021 Olympic Games opening ceremony.
Overall, the viewership for Euro 2020 matches in the US was up by 31% compared to Euro 2016. TV stations ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2, broadcasted the games to an average of 1.36 million viewers each day of the tournament. Apparently, the time zone difference wasn’t such a problem for football fans on the American continent. As it usually goes with tournaments, the viewership kept growing as the proceedings came to a close, peaking at 8.2 million during the penalty shootout in the dramatic final match.
Similar reports came from companies that provided Euro 2020 broadcast in the Spanish language. On average, 1.2 million Spanish-speaking Americans watched the Euro games this year, with the final match drawing in 2.9 million total viewers. The Univision network aired only 11 tournament games on TUDN and the Prende TV streaming service.
At the same time, the network also showed Copa America, the South American version of the Euro. The audience watched 28 games, including the final between Argentina and Brazil, which the “Gauchos” won thanks to fantastic games by Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María. Naturally, this tournament was more popular in Latin America, with 3.5 million fans watching the finals on the Univision network.
There’s no doubt that there’s a growing audience for football in the United States. Even though it’s still far from the viewership of NFL, NBA, or MLB, it’s evident that interest in the sport is increasing. With a number of betting sites covering all the big tournaments, it’s a great time to be a football and a betting fan in America.
