World Cup Ratings: How Football Numbers Reversed a Concerning Trend

Open television ratings in Argentina have been in a steep decline, reaching their lowest point in two decades in 2025. This trend highlights a significant shift in audience habits, with few programs capturing widespread interest. Live events, particularly impactful news and football matches, have proven to be the primary drivers of viewership. Evidence of this can be seen in the fact that the top 20 highest-rated programs in 2025 were dominated by the Club World Cup, Copa Conmebol Libertadores, and World Cup Qualifiers.

The FIFA 2026 World Cup, which kicked off recently, has injected much-needed life into television ratings. Argentine media outlets dispatched over 200 professionals, including talents, producers, and technicians, to cover the year's biggest sporting event across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. DSports, the sports channel of the Waiken ILW group, is the sole broadcaster airing all 104 matches, having secured long-term distribution agreements with most of the pay-TV market. They, along with TyC Sports, ESPN, Telefe, and the América group, have the largest contingents of special correspondents.

The World Cup's opening ceremony in Mexico, broadcast on Telefe, recorded an opening rating of 11.6 points. This event served as a precursor to the surge in viewership experienced by open television in the following days. The debut match, where Mexico defeated South Africa 2-0, achieved an impressive 21.3 rating points on Thursday afternoon. Notably, during that same time slot on a typical day, all other open television channels combined struggle to reach such figures. On that day, Telefe, led by Federico Levrino, surpassed the combined daily averages of its competitors with a 12.5 rating, driven by the World Cup's commencement. The first day of the tournament marked the second-highest open television viewership of 2026, reaching 20.3 points.

Viewership continued to climb over the weekend. The match between the United States and Paraguay on Friday, June 12, was the most-watched program with an average of 15.2 rating points. During the long holiday weekend, football remained the dominant attraction. Brazil versus Morocco on Saturday drew the highest viewership of the day with 21.9 points, making it the second-highest-rated match overall. The tournament's ability to captivate audiences underscores its significance in reversing the concerning trend of declining television ratings.