World Cup kicks Fox One to 2.8 million June sign-ups
Antenna says the 2026 World Cup delivered Fox One’s strongest subscriber month since launch, with 400,000 sign-ups on opening day alone.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Fox One got its biggest subscriber jolt yet from the 2026 World Cup, with 2.8 million people signing up for the streamer in June, according to data released Tuesday by research firm Antenna.
The surge included 400,000 sign-ups on June 11, the tournament’s opening day, Antenna said. That made June the strongest month by a wide margin for Fox One, which debuted in August 2025.
The previous high came in January 2026, when the service drew 1.1 million sign-ups during the NFL playoff month, according to Antenna.
Soccer did the heavy lifting
Fox One streamed all 104 games of the World Cup, which also aired on the Fox broadcast network and cable channel FS1. Fox’s free streaming service Tubi simulcast the first two games, giving Fox One extra exposure at the start of the tournament.
Spain won the World Cup on Sunday, closing a five-week event staged across 16 North American sites. The 2026 tournament featured an expanded 48-nation field.
Fox and Telemundo, the Spanish-language rights holder, have both reported repeated audience milestones during the competition. The companies have pointed to factors including favorable time zones for viewers and growing interest in soccer.
Where the sign-ups came from
Direct distribution was the biggest channel for new Fox One subscriptions in June, accounting for 40% of the month’s total, according to Antenna.
YouTube Primetime Channels, which began carrying Fox One on June 1, delivered 15% of June sign-ups. Amazon Channels, which had been an important launch partner for the service, accounted for 19% in June.
That was a sharp shift from Fox One’s launch period. Antenna said Amazon Channels represented 58% of sign-ups from the service’s August 2025 debut through May 2026.
A fresh crowd for Fox One
Antenna described the World Cup as a major customer-acquisition moment for Fox One, rather than a comeback vehicle for lapsed users.
The firm said 93% of Fox One’s gross subscriber additions in June were new customers, while 7% were returning subscribers.
“With the 2026/2027 NFL season kicking off in a matter of weeks, it will be interesting to see how Fox One retains a cohort that came in for a different sport,” Antenna wrote in a blog post. The firm added that early NFL-season retention should help show how many June subscribers came just for the tournament and how many stick with the broader service.
Fox launched Fox One after spending years outside the streaming push that reshaped much of the media business. The company had emphasized its traditional TV business, but shrinking pay-TV totals helped make a direct-to-consumer service a way to reach younger viewers who do not subscribe to cable or satellite packages.
Fox One arrived in the same month as ESPN’s standalone streaming service. The two services are also sold together in a cross-company bundle. Both parent companies have avoided giving specific subscriber targets, presenting the streamers as additions to their existing linear networks.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.