The World Cup 2010, By the Numbers

As a fact-filled follow up to my World Cup post, I present some statistics about viewership that I think back my point of how far soccer has to go before it is widely accepted in the US. Despite Shoul’s insistence that a big crowd in a small Mexican restaurant in Northampton is evidence of a tidal wave of soccer love, here are the numbers.

In the US, 24.3 million viewers watched the final on Sunday. That’s the biggest ever in the US.  The Superbowl in February drew 106.5 million viewers.  Around the world, though, is another story. This cup final set a record. Roughly 700 million people tuned into to watch the 1-0 borefest. Mexico vs Argentina drew a total of 9.4 million US viewers,  earlier in the competition.

One market that has seen a surge in viewers is Televisa, Mexico’s leading broadcaster.