Nearly 12 million Americans watched on ABC as France beat Italy in the World Cup final on Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research, making the 2006 final the third most-watched final in U.S. soccer-viewing history. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision and its sister network Telefutura also received “monster ratings” for this year’s final, said the Hollywood Reporter. The record for a soccer game in the U.S. is still 14.5 million viewers for the 1994 World Cup final between Brazil and Italy. ABC easily beat the 3.9 million total audience that saw the last World Cup final. For the entire tournament, ABC averaged 3.8 million viewers, compared to 1.7 million in 2002. ESPN delivered an average of 2.3 million viewers, up from 2002’s average of 1.3 million. Univision also delivered a 2.3 average rating, up a tremendous 136 percent from 2002. Through the semi-finals, the Hollywood Reporter says Univision outdelivered English-speaking coverage on ESPN and ABC; it also received bumps in every major demographic over coverage in 2002.