La Liga is seeing significant growth in U.S. viewership this season, fueled by a record-setting audience for Sunday’s El Clásico.

Sunday’s Barcelona-Real Madrid match averaged a whopping 2.4 million viewers across ABC and ESPN Deportes, making it the most-watched El Clásico and La Liga match in U.S. history. The audience more than doubled last season’s first El Clásico audience of 1.1 million viewers.

Sunday’s ELCLÁSICO delivered most-watched LALIGA match on ESPN Nets

⚽️2.4M avg. viewers across ABC and ESPN Deportes
⚽️Season audience Up +50% YoY

Details: https://t.co/PObYKNPfA2 https://t.co/KUc5QvGX8h

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 27, 2026

Combined English and Spanish viewership is up 50 percent year-over-year through Matchday 10, averaging 142,000 viewers, and the strongest growth has come among children ages 2–17 (+84%), adults ages 18–34 (+69%) and women ages 2 and older (+56%), an ESPN spokesperson tells Awful Announcing. While exact audience figures for these demographics were not provided, the 84% year-over-year increase among children ages 2–17 is particularly notable and speaks to the potential impact of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

As Reuters reported earlier this month, Premier League viewership has also grown significantly among younger audiences, though not to the same extent as La Liga’s current gains. However, La Liga’s season-to-date average still trails the Premier League’s audience on NBC and USA Network, which averages more than three times as many viewers.

Additionally, average La Liga viewership on ESPN Deportes is up 12% overall, with children ages 2–17 (+50%) and adults ages 18–34 (+26%) leading the growth on the Spanish-language side.

ESPN’s La Liga coverage has delivered several record audiences this season, including three of the most-watched English-language La Liga matches ever on ESPN platforms. Alongside Sunday’s El Clásico, those audiences include Elche–Barcelona (1.0 million viewers) and Espanyol–Real Madrid (811,000 viewers) on Matchday 1 in August. ESPN also recorded its most-watched Madrid Derby ever across ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ in September, averaging 574,000 viewers.

La Liga will look to sustain its U.S. growth, particularly among English-language audiences, with more matches still to come on ABC and ESPN this season.

For more on ESPN’s La Liga coverage, check out our interview with longtime soccer broadcaster Derek Rae, who recently joined the network’s La Liga commentary team.