FS1 earned a rare month-long victory over ESPN in primetime viewership during the month of June thanks to the strength of this year’s World Cup audience.
Fox Sports 1 averaged 1.31 million viewers in primetime throughout the month of June, good for the second most-watched cable network of the month behind only sister channel Fox News which averaged 2.26 million viewers in primetime. ESPN finished in third place, averaging 1.08 million viewers for the month in primetime.
Top Cable Channels for the month of June. Live+SD, Primetime. Viewers P2+.
1. FOX News Channel: 2.26M
2. Fox Sports 1: 1.31M
3. ESPN: 1.078M
4. MSNOW: 1.015M
5. Home and Garden TV: 703K
6. CNN: 610K
7. TBS: 537K
8. Hallmark Channel: 516K
9. USA Network: 500K
10. History: 491K— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) July 7, 2026
In total, FS1 aired 32 World Cup matches in the month of June, though not all of those matches aired in primetime. Of those 32 matches, just 15 overlapped with the primetime hours, generally measured as between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. Several also aired simultaneously to matches on Fox during the final day of group play, with FS1 typically getting the less desirable matchup.
Nevertheless, all FS1’s World Cup programming seemed to lift most of the network’s other programming. Per Sports Business Journal, the week of June 15 was the most-watched week in FS1 history by total-day audience. The network averaged 885,000 viewers for the week, 90% better than ESPN’s total-day audience in the same week. As a company, Fox swept the three major ratings categories — broadcast, cable, and news — for both the week of June 15 and June 22.
A World Cup is one of the rare sporting events that commands both a high level of interest and has the volume of inventory to genuinely lift a cable network like FS1 despite the secular decline of the medium over many years. While streamers and tech companies seem to be the favorites to land the tournament come 2030, there’s still clear value to be derived from legacy broadcasters airing the World Cup. Whether that value can justify the expected doubling or tripling of media rights fees for the next tournament, however, remains to be seen.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.