Which finals drew a bigger audience? Comparing Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup and NBA viewership

Every year, sports fans across the world debate one question: which final is truly the biggest? The Super Bowl dominates American television. The FIFA World Cup final captures global attention.

Meanwhile, the NBA Finals remains one of the most-watched basketball events worldwide.Each of these events is huge in its own way, but the figures make it apparent which one has the biggest worldwide reach and total audience.

FIFA World Cup Final viewership

The FIFA World Cup final is widely considered the biggest sporting event in the world. Official FIFA figures say that the 2022 final between Argentina and France reached almost 1.5 billion people throughout the world. That number includes anyone who watched the game for at least one minute on TV, streaming services, or in public places.

The whole tournament in 2022 had 5.6 billion viewers across all of its matches. There were almost 175 million people watching each match live. The final alone had more than 570 million live viewers on regular TV, not counting the numbers from streaming.The key factor behind these massive numbers is global participation. The World Cup features teams from every continent and is broadcast in dozens of countries simultaneously.

It is one of the few sporting events that truly unites audiences across Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and North America at the same time.

Super Bowl viewership

The Super Bowl remains the biggest annual sporting event in the United States. The game had a record 127.7 million viewers in the US in 2025, across all platforms. There were 190 million people who watched it around the world.

Over the last five years, Super Bowl viewership has increased with recent games consistently crossing the 110 million mark in the United States alone.

It is also the most valuable advertising event in sports, with 30-second commercial slots reportedly costing $8 million or more.The Super Bowl has most of its viewers in North America, unlike the World Cup final. Interest from other countries is growing, but it's not as great as the World Cup, which is the biggest football tournament in the world.

NBA Finals viewership

The NBA Finals attract strong domestic numbers but fall well behind the Super Bowl and World Cup final. The 2025 NBA Finals averaged 75 million total viewers in the United States across the full series. Game 7 averaged 16.6 million viewers and peaked at nearly 20 million.

The NBA also reported massive digital engagement, generating billions of social media views during the postseason. While basketball enjoys strong global popularity, the Finals’ live television numbers remain significantly lower than the Super Bowl and far behind the World Cup final.When comparing a pure global audience, the FIFA World Cup final stands clearly ahead. The Super Bowl dominates American television and leads in advertising revenue. The NBA Finals remain a major sporting event in the US, but do not reach the same viewership scale.