The latest edition of El Clásico, the vaunted Spanish soccer derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona, performed exceptionally well in terms of both domestic and global viewership.
Real Madrid bested Barcelona 2-1 in a game marred by a post-match fray that spilled out onto the pitch, as well as significant mid-match drama from the likes of Pedri, who was sent off, and Vinicius Jr., who had a public spat with manager Xabi Alonso.
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Domestically, the game accumulated an impressive 22.2% national audience share in Spain on broadcaster DAZN, drawing 2.95 million unique viewers, and averaging 2.31 million across its runtime.
In terms of OTT coverage in Spain, also on DAZN, the streamer claims that the October 26 fixture was the "most engaging" event in its history, growing streaming audience on last season's first El Clasico by 24%.
It was also the busiest day in terms of overall hours streamed (3.1 million) in DAZN's history in Spain, with El Clasico being shown alongside Formula 1, MotoGP, and other Spanish soccer action.
On the advertising front, the El Clasico fixture smashed DAZN's record for single-game advertising sales with a 100% sell-through rate and a 28% increase in brand visibility.
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By GlobalDataThe performance is especially exceptional given that it is the first El Clásico of the season, one that is neither a cup final nor a match with significant title race implications (yet).
Strong viewership continued across Europe, with French pay-TV heavyweight BeIN Sports reporting an average of 730,000 viewers, and a peak of 935,000, according to programming director Florent Houzot.
In Italy, where the game was shown on Mediaset-owned free-to-air network Italia 1 (courtesy of a sub-licensing deal with DAZN), a total of 1.23 million watched the game, with a national viewership share of 10.6%.
Globally, reported figures suggest that the fixture has become one of the most-watched soccer matches ever.
Sources confirmed to Sportcal that estimates suggesting the game drew a global audience of over 600 million are accurate; however, specific figures of 650 million quoted by outlets may be wide of the mark.
Obviously, this is a massive number but given LaLiga's range of free-to-air and pay-TV distribution, which expands far beyond the DAZN domestic figure, the figure may refer to potential global reach.
The game was shown in over 180 global territories, and LaLiga has gone to great lengths to promote its marquee rivalry, going so far as to launch a LaLiga-specific partnership with grocery store chain Walmart in the US.
The next edition of El Clásico in LaLiga will take place on the weekend of May 9-10, 2026; however, the two sides have two chances of meeting before then, in the Copa del Rey knockout cup competition, and the Supercopa de España super cup mini-tournament, which will be staged in Saudi Arabia in January.
