The opening games for heavyweight nations England, France, and Spain, at soccer's 2026 FIFA World Cup secured record free-to-air (FTA) broadcast audiences in those countries over the last few days.
England's 4-2 victory against Croatia was watched by an average audience of 14.2 million in the UK (from kickoff to final whistle), with a peak of 15.4 million, on commercial broadcaster ITV. This equates to the highest peak viewing figure of 2026 for ITV so far – but if England progress deep into the competition, it is almost certain to be broken.
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The game – held in Texas, with the World Cup being hosted jointly by the US, Mexico, and Canada – began at a relatively friendly time of 9 PM for English audiences.
ITV is sharing World Cup coverage rights with the BBC, the UK's public-service broadcaster.
Coverage of France's 3-1 win against Senegal on M6, meanwhile, brought in 13.8 million French viewers. This is the highest such figure for an opening France game at a FIFA World Cup since 2014.
This equates to a 61.4% market share, for a match that started at 9 PM in France. M6 holds World Cup rights alongside pay-TV's BeIN for both the 2026 and 2030 editions of the tournament. BeIN holds rights to all 104 games from each edition, while M6 will air 54.
Spain's surprising and disappointing 0-0 draw with World Cup debutants Cape Verde, meanwhile, was seen by an average of over 7.3 million viewers via public-service broadcaster RTVE, which achieved an audience share for that complete programme of 60.4%.
In total, more than 11 people tuned into the game, to see one of the real shocks of the World Cup so far.
RTVE holds FTA rights to a package of games (including all Spain's fixtures) from the ongoing World Cup, with Mediapro having snapped up the pay-TV rights (that service's World Cup offering is also available through the DAZN subscription service).
Spain's next game is against Saudi Arabia on Sunday, before France take on Iraq on Monday and England play Ghana on Tuesday.
These audiences follow on from the substantial numbers who tuned in across a number of key markets – including the US and Mexico – during the first few days of World Cup action.
In the US, the national team’s 4-1 victory over Paraguay became that side's most-watched English-language and Spanish-language World Cup telecast ever.
Mexico’s 2-0 win over South Africa on the opening day of the tournament, meanwhile, attracted 12.1 million viewers on Telemundo in the US, making it the most-watched World Cup game in Spanish-language history in that market.
In terms of European audiences, meanwhile, Germany's public-service broadcaster ARD attracted 23.4 million to its coverage of that national team's 7-1 rout of World Cup debutants Curacao.
