Spain's Ferran Torres (7) celebrates scoring their first goal during the World Cup final on Sunday.Julio Cortez/The Associated Press
The quality of soccer during Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final may have underwhelmed but the match delivered in other ways, setting a record TV audience in Canada of 6.4 million viewers on average, according to preliminary data from the ratings agency Numeris released Tuesday by Bell Media. That made it the most-watched FIFA World Cup match on record in this country, with 14.6 million viewers tuning in at some point and a peak audience of 9.05 million watching about five minutes before the final whistle.
Bell Media carried the match on its TSN and RDS sports services as well as the broadcast networks CTV and Noovo and its streamer Crave.
The big numbers came after a string of TV viewership records for Canada’s national men’s team playing in its first World Cup at home, capped by an audience of 5.4 million on average who tuned in to its round of 16 loss to Morocco. That figure marked the largest domestic audience for a Canada match at any FIFA World Cup tournament and the most-watched non-final match on record.
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Overall viewership for the tournament was up sharply from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with an average viewership of 1.6 million for all 104 matches and a total of 30.5 million Canadians who watched at least some of the broadcaster’s live coverage, according to Bell.
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The company said 68 matches drew an average audience of at least one million viewers. That included 38 group-stage matches, with viewership for that round up 43 per cent from 2022. The 16 matches played in the round of 32 drew an average of 1.9 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 the FIFA World Cup 2026,” said Shawn Redmond, the vice-president of Bell Media Sports, in a statement.
This year’s final beat the previous record for a FIFA World Cup match of 5.8 million who tuned in to the 2010 final on CBC and Radio-Canada, with the same number watching the 2014 final on CBC and RDS.
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The match between Spain and Argentina also broke records in the U.S., where 62.8 million viewers on average tuned in – Fox’s English-language coverage drew 38.9 million while 23.9 million watched the Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo and the Peacock streaming service, according to the Nielsen ratings agency – making it the most-watched soccer broadcast in U.S. history.
Spanish media reported Monday that the match drew 17 million viewers in that country, enough to secure the match a 91-per-cent share of all TVs tuned in at that time. The BBC announced that the British broadcast drew an average audience of 13.9 million.
Global numbers, which are released by FIFA, may not be disclosed for some time. FIFA reported the 2022 final drew an average minute audience of 571 million viewers, with 1.42 billion tuning in for at least one minute of the action. That match kicked off earlier in the West, at 10 a.m. ET, a time slot less likely to draw in casual viewers.