Bell Media says 75% of Canada’s population tuned in to its FIFA World Cup 2026 broadcasts across TSN, RDS, CTV, Noovo and Crave.
According to preliminary data from Numeris, a total of 30.5 million unique Canadian viewers watched live tournament coverage across Bell Media’s networks, attracting an average audience of 1.6 million viewers per game across 104 matches. The network says that’s an increase of more than 50% compared to the 2022 tournament.
“Throughout this incredible tournament, Bell Media’s ambitious coverage united fans, broke audience records, and made this the biggest FIFA World Cup™ in Canadian history,” said Kevin Cluett, SVP, Subscription Services, Sports, and Out of Home, Bell Media. “The commitment to excellence across our organization was visible in all aspects of our business, bringing together premium content and cross-platform activation. These exceptional results demonstrate the full power of Bell Media’s connected ecosystem, and our ability to transform passion-fueled content into audience growth and consumer engagement, connecting Canadian audiences and our advertising partners to the biggest sporting event on the planet.”
Sunday afternoon’s Final, featuring a dramatic, extra-time victory by Spain, attracted a record average audience of 6.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched FIFA World Cup match ever in Canada (up +32% compared to the 2022 Final).
Overall, 14.6 million unique Canadian viewers tuned in to the match, which saw audiences peak with 9.05 million viewers at 5:57 p.m. ET as Spain secured the 1-0 win in extra time to attain their second-ever FIFA World Cup victory. Streaming audiences audiences were up more than 200% compared to the 2022 Final, with live matches consistently ranked among the most-watched content on Crave.
Among the tournament’s audience highlights is Canada’s Men’s National Team run that saw them advance to the Round of 16 for the first time. Their match against Morocco attracted an average audience of 5.4 million viewers, the most-watched match in Canada of any non-Final ever.
The tournament’s first-ever slate of Round of 32 matches attracted an average audience of 1.9 million viewers, while Round of 16 matches garnered an average audience of 2.5 million viewers – an increase of more than 100% compared to 2022. Semifinal matches attracted an average audience of 3.7 million viewers, with Argentina vs. England becoming the most-watched Semifinal match on record with 4.1 million viewers.
Overall, Canadians consumed more than 400 million hours of FIFA World Cup live matches, up nearly 160% compared to the 2022 tournament.
Fan engagement with TSN social content attracted more than 1.2 billion video views and more than 2.5 billion impressions, while FIFA World Cup content on TSN’s YouTube channel attained more than 91 million views.
By average audience, the Top 10 most-watched matches at the tournament were:
- Spain vs. Argentina, Final, July 19: 6.4 million viewers (most-watched FIFA World Cup match on record)
- Canada vs. Morocco, Round of 16, July 4: 5.4 million viewers (most-watched non-Final match on record)
- Canada vs. Qatar, Group Stage, June 18: 5.3 million viewers (most-watched Group Stage match on record)
- Canada vs. South Africa, Round of 32, June 28: 5.2 million viewers
- Argentina vs. England, Semifinals, July 15: 4.1 million viewers (most-watched Semifinal match on record)
- Canada vs. Switzerland, Group Stage, June 24: 4.1 million viewers
- Norway vs. England, Quarter-finals, July 11: 3.8 million viewers
- Spain vs. France, Semifinals, July 14: 3.2 million viewers
- Portugal vs. Croatia, Round of 32, July 2: 3.2 million viewers
- Canada vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Group Stage, June 12: 3.2 million viewers
“With thrilling matches, passionate fans here on home soil in stadiums and on the streets, and the history-making performance of Canada’s Men’s National Team, Canadians will never forget FIFA World Cup 2026,” added Shawn Redmond, VP, Bell Media Sports. “On behalf of the whole team at TSN and RDS, we were honoured to give audiences across the country a front row seat to a phenomenal month of international sport at its highest level. My biggest congratulations goes out to our talented team members across every department, whose skill and dedication was on full display not just during this tournament, but in the years leading up to it. The effort they put into this once-in-a-lifetime event was the driving force that made our multi-platform coverage an overwhelming success.”
