The big audiences for the 2026 men’s World Cup on Fox Sports have extended to the programming around the matches.
Fox’s pregame show has more than doubled its audience from the 2022 World Cup, according to Nielsen figures for the first 12 days of the tournament. Through the second leg of the group stage, which concluded June 23, the pregame show is averaging a shade over 2.4 million viewers, a 117 percent improvement vs. the same point in 2022 (1.11 million).
The pregame is even running slightly ahead of match coverage on Fox Sports in terms of percentage gain. The first two legs of the group stage drew 5.62 million viewers on Fox, FS1 and Tubi, up 113 percent from 2.64 million for the group stage in 2022.
Having the World Cup on home turf — and back in its usual spot on the calendar — is certainly a big part of the ratings boost. The United States, Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the tournament, which means pregame shows start in the late morning or midday ET; the last men’s World Cup was held in Qatar in the fall of 2022, which meant an eight- to 11-hour time difference in the U.S., depending on time zone. The later date (to avoid extreme summer heat in Qatar) also meant a much more crowded TV sports calendar.
The primary Fox studio team of host Rebecca Lowe (on loan from NBC, where she hosts Premier League coverage) and analysts Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Alexi Lalas has come under considerable scrutiny, particularly early in the tournament. Henry and Ibrahimović are considered two of the greatest players of the past 30 years, and they were perceived as having a frosty relationship with former U.S. national team player Lalas, who has been with Fox since 2015. Regardless of why, though, people are watching.
The World Cup as a whole has been big for both Fox and Telemundo/Peacock, which has Spanish-langauge broadcast rights in the United States. The combined audience for the World Cup through June 23 was well above 10 million viewers per match.
Full ratings for the group stage, which ended Saturday, are expected in the next couple days.
