The 2026 World Cup quarterfinals delivered record audiences in the United States despite the elimination of all three host nations before the round began.
All four quarterfinal matches set new English-language viewing records for a World Cup quarterfinal, according to The Hollywood Reporter, citing final same-day Nielsen ratings. Fox averaged 15.64 million viewers across the four matches, up 150 percent from the 2022 tournament, which averaged 6.25 million.
Saturday's match between England and Norway led the quarterfinals with 21.8 million viewers on Fox. Argentina's win over Switzerland in the nightcap drew 18.15 million. France's victory over Morocco on Thursday brought in 10.25 million, and Spain's win over Belgium on Friday drew 9.87 million, the smallest audience of the four but still a record for its timeslot.
For comparison, the previous English-language high for a World Cup quarterfinal was France's win over England in the 2022 tournament, which delivered 8.86 million viewers on Fox on a Saturday in December.
Telemundo and Peacock also saw significant growth. The Spanish-language broadcast and streaming platforms combined to average 10.4 million viewers per match, up 154 percent from the 2022 quarterfinals. Peacock alone nearly quadrupled its audience from 2022, growing from 1.4 million to 5.5 million viewers, outpacing the platform's subscriber growth over that period.
When combining English and Spanish-language viewership across all platforms, the England and Norway match reached 34.8 million viewers total. Argentina versus Switzerland drew 29.95 million. France and Morocco combined for 18.25 million, and Spain versus Belgium drew 17.17 million.
The United States, Mexico and Canada were all eliminated before the quarterfinals. There had been concern that viewership would fall sharply once the host nations were out, but the numbers suggest that fear was unfounded.
