Mexico-Argentina World Cup match is most-watched U.S. Spanish-language telecast

By Paul J. Gough

Sunday's Mexico-Argentina World Cup match on Univision kicked its way into history as the most-watched telecast in Spanish-language TV in the United States. More than 9.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the match Sunday afternoon, Nielsen Media Research said Monday.

It was the highest-rated program on Univision in the network's history. The viewership skewed young, with 5.5 million between the ages of 18-49, 3.3 million from 18 to 34 and 4.2 million between 12 and 34. Mexico-Argentina was the top program in Miami, Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas in viewers, adults 18-34 and adults 18-49 as well as other demos. There were 72,000 simultaneous streams of the game on UnivisionFutbol.com.

ESPN didn't break any records with Sunday's matches but turned in respectable ratings: There were 5.5 million viewers for Argentina-Mexico on ABC and 4.3 million viewers for England-Germany.

Argentina beat Mexico 3-1 for the right to meet Germany in the quarterfinals on the weekend.

Univision's stellar ratings came as the network and ESPN have reaped rewards for their strong marketing push over the course of the past several months, banking on the Super Bowl-like atmosphere surrounding the quadrennial World Cup. Saturday afternoon's 2-1 US loss to Ghana, which eliminated the US, was the most-watched men's World Cup soccer game ever. 

It wasn't just all about Mexico-Argentina, either. Univision averaged 2.6 million viewers for the Uruguay-South Korea match Saturday and 4.5 million viewers for US-Ghana. There were more than 84,000 simultaneous streams of the US-Ghana match on UnivisionFutbol.com.