World Cup 2026 Global Rating Success
A historic surge across three countries
It is “Called The Beautiful Game” for a reason, and networks worldwide are racking up big numbers. The 2026 FIFA World Cup has become a ratings phenomenon for broadcast and streaming partners in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. With the tournament hosted across North America and featuring deep interest in England, the three biggest English-language markets, plus French-language Canada via RDS, have delivered some of the highest numbers ever recorded for soccer in their respective countries.
Fox and Telemundo dominate the US market
In the United States, Fox, FS1 and Tubi have set new benchmarks for English-language World Cup coverage. The opening match between the United States and Paraguay averaged 27.5 million viewers across those platforms, the most-watched football match ever in the US. The US match against Bosnia-Herzegovina on July 1 drew 24.4 million viewers and peaked at 31.8 million in the final quarter, while the Mexico versus England Round of 16 game reached 21.74 million on Fox and 23.2 million on Telemundo.
Telemundo and Peacock streaming have been critical to the success, with the Mexico versus England match generating 13 million streaming viewers and contributing to a combined TV and streaming audience well above 40 million. Group-stage matches averaged 5.1 million viewers per game across 72 matches, a 92 percent increase over the 2022 group stage.
BBC and ITV rewrite the UK story
In the United Kingdom, a split between BBC and ITV has created multiple breakout moments. The opening match between England and Croatia peaked at 15.4 million viewers on ITV, with an average of 14.2 million. England versus DR Congo in the Round of 16 reached 16.3 million on the BBC, the broadcaster’s highest moment this year, and generated 10.4 million streams on BBC iPlayer.
Streaming has been a major driver. During the final week of the group stage, the World Cup accounted for 34 percent of all streaming hours on BBC iPlayer. ITVX logged more than 110 million streams in a single week, driven by the World Cup kickoff and England matches.
TSN, RDS, CTV, Noovo and Crave lead in Canada
Canada has seen record interest in a World Cup hosted in its own cities. Through the first four days, 16.9 million unique Canadians had watched some World Cup coverage on TSN, RDS, CTV, Noovo and Crave. By July 5, that number had reached 28.2 million, or roughly 69 percent of the population.
The Canada versus Morocco Round of 16 match averaged 5.4 million viewers across Bell Media platforms, with a peak of 7.3 million and 11.7 million unique viewers. That match generated more than a 500 percent increase in streaming compared to Canada’s 2022 Round of 16 game, and Canadians have watched more than 274 million hours of live matches, up 150 percent from 2022.
RDS, the French-language network, carried the bulk of the French-language coverage and played a central role in these results, especially for all Canada matches and major European games. While exact RDS-only prelim figures are not always published separately, the overall Bell Media numbers show that RDS contributed heavily to the record 5.4 million average and 11.7 million unique viewers for Canada versus Morocco, with strong French-language share in Quebec and nationwide.
What this means for global sports media
The 2026 World Cup proves that soccer remains a mass-market force when host nations and high-profile players are involved. Fox, Telemundo, ITV, BBC, TSN, Crave and RDS have all delivered record or near-record audiences, while streaming platforms have become essential partners rather than supplements. This is a blueprint for the next cycle, with host country matches, marquee teams and cross-platform distribution now the core of global sports success.
