?? Euros, Copa América online media mentions surpass 300K in U.S.
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The finals of Euro 2024 and Copa América 2024 were played on?Sunday, which brings to an end the first two acts in a tremendous summer of international soccer.
Spain defeated England 2-1 as La Roja won every one of their games on the road?to a record fourth European title. Argentina survived a Lionel Messi ankle injury to defeat Columbia 1-0 in extra time, marking a record 16th Copa America title for La Albiceleste.
While we wait for the Olympics - the third and final act of the summer - to kick off, we're?reflecting on both the Euros and Copa América by highlighting data surrounding U.S.-based online media (excluding social media)?mentions of both tournaments.
Headline: between June 13?and July 15, the tournaments were mentioned a combined 308.9K times!
Above, we charted the number of daily mentions for each tournament, with tracking beginning one day prior to the first kick of each tournament and continuing through one day after both finals. Let's dive into a few insights for each event:
Euros garner more mentions than counterpart in the Americas
Euro 2024 mentions significantly outpaced those of Copa América with Europe's premier?international tournament seeing over a thousand more mentions per day, on average. The most mentions of the event?came towards the beginning of the tournament when more than 2,400 media outlets from Awful Announcing to WXIN-TV in Indianapolis?joined the conversation on?June 20.
Why June 20? A combination of things. England drew Denmark and failed to win for the first time in the tournament, likely causing some backlash on the widely covered Three Lions. There was also much discussion about Kylian Mbappé's broken nose, the?mask he'd need to wear, and his game fitness leading up to France's second Group Stage game the following day.?
But Copa América bests Euros on final day of competition
Mentions of Copa America peaked on the day of the final, which is unsurprising when considering Messi's presence and Argentina winning their second straight tournament title. Messi's ankle injury, Shakira's halftime performance, and chatter around stadium security all moved the needle, as well.
One interesting data point to note is that among the five states with the most Copa América mentions, four have the highest Hispanic populations in the U.S. as of 2022: California (15.7M), Texas (12.1M), Florida (6.0M), and New York (3.9M).?
??? Combined viewership of both finals exceeds 18 million
The 2024 editions of the Euros and Copa América brought about a record number of American viewers, which will please both FOX Sports and TelevisaUnivision.
Let's start with the Euros. Sunday's final was viewed by 6.43M people on FOX, while 3.00M watched on Univision. This brings the grand total of viewers of the final to 9.43M, marking the largest-ever English- and Spanish-language viewing audiences for the Euros. In total, the tournament averaged 1.68M viewers per game on the FOX Sports networks, which sets a record as the most-watched Euro in U.S. English-language viewing?history.
As for Copa América, the tournament averaged 1.42M viewers on the FOX Sports networks, which also sets an English-language viewing record for the tournament. Sunday's final delivered 6.02M English-language viewers on FOX (most-ever for a Copa América game), while Univision delivered 6.35M in Spanish-language viewers (largest viewership since the 2014 World Cup final). A grand total of 12.37M watched Messi and Argentina hoist their second consecutive Copa América trophy.
INVESTMENT: Angel City announced it has entered into an agreement with Willow Bay and Bob Iger, making the duo the controlling owners of the club. The investment values Angel City at $250 million, the highest-ever valuation for a women's professional sports team. Last week we detailed the potential investment and where the valuation stands relative to other NWSL and WNBA franchise valuations.
INVESTMENT: Former Everton and U.S. Men's National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard has joined the ownership group of the Houston Dynamo and?Houston Dash. The?clubs are valued at a combined $600 million according to Sportico, but Howard's investment was reportedly made at a $700 million valuation.
SPONSORSHIP: Audi - already the official automotive partner of Major League Soccer since 2015 - has expanded?its soccer sponsorship portfolio,?striking?a multi-year partnership with Inter Miami?to become the?club's official automotive partner. The deal includes a fleet of vehicles wrapped in Inter Miami pink, Audi test drive experiences, fan zone activations, stadium LED activations, and more.
SPONSORSHIP: La Liga has announced a new partnership with Uber Eats. The food delivery app will appear?on La Liga's?social media platforms and in-stadium signage.?In addition, Uber Eats users?will be able to win?exclusive La Liga experiences and merchandise. The partnership will run through the 2026-27 season.
ENTERTAINMENT: Welcome to...?Necaxa??Last week, FX and Disney+ Latin America began filming an untitled series revolving around Club Necaxa, a Liga MX club that recently welcomed Eva Longoria, Ryan Reynolds, and Rob McElhenney as investors. The series will follow a similar format to the Emmy-winning "Welcome to Wrexham" series produced by Reynolds and McElhenney. The series will be bilingual in English and Spanish.
ADVERTISING: Copa América 2024 was?a massive success for broadcasters, including TelevisaUnivision. The Spanish-language network sold out of its advertising inventory in the days leading up to Sunday's?final, a tremendous accomplishment for a network?whose live sports coverage currently accounts for 19 of the top 20 Spanish-language programs aired in the U.S. this year.
EXTRA TIME: Check out this article from Marketing Brew highlighting the newest ad in Major League Soccer's?"Our Soccer is Calling" campaign, an idea borne out of collaboration with Latin Grammy-award winner Don Elektron and up-and-coming Latin pop singer Gotopo.