With the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in full swing, the round of 32 has delivered huge broadcast audiences in several major markets, including record-breaking figures in the host countries.
In the US, one of the major soccer tournament’s three host nations, coverage of the men’s national team is continuing to break domestic viewership records as the team advanced to the last-16.
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The country’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 drew 24.4 million US viewers on national network Fox, FS1, and Tubi, making that the most-watched soccer telecast in English-language US history.
The audience peaked towards the end of the match with nearly 32 million US viewers.
The match also set a Spanish-language record with 9.1 million total audience delivery for Telemundo.
That victory has set up a last-16 clash with Belgium, who defeated Senegal 3-2 in extra time.
Co-hosts Mexico also set a viewership record for the national team’s 2-0 win over Ecuador, which became the most-watched World Cup match of the 21st century in the country.
An average audience of 35.1 million tuned in across Televisa (19 million) and TV Azteca (16.1 million).
The match also delivered a record combined audience for a soccer match in the United States, averaging 29.3 million viewers across Telemundo and Peacock (18.9 million) and Fox (10.4 million).
Mexico has now broken its own FIFA World Cup 2026 TV audience record three times this tournament.
In the last-16, Mexico will face England, who overcame the Democratic Republic of Congo.
England’s dramatic 2-1 win delivered the biggest live TV audience of 2026 for the BBC, the country's public-service broadcaster, with a peak figure of 16.3 million.
The match also averaged 14 million viewers on the BBC One linear channel and via the BBC iPlayer streaming service.
The knockout victory delivered huge digital engagement as well, generating 10.4 million streams across BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website, and the BBC Sport app.
The BBC – which is sharing World Cup coverage rights with commercial free-to-air broadcaster ITV – will also be providing coverage of Mexico vs England on Monday morning in the UK (Sunday evening in Mexico).
Rounding out the host nations, Canada’s first-ever World Cup knockout round win was watched by a record audience in the country.
The nation’s late 1-0 win over South Africa attracted an average audience of 5.2 million viewers on TSN, RDS, CTV, Noovo, and Crave, and became the country’s most-watched non-final World Cup knockout round match on record.
Overall, 11.8 million unique Canadian viewers tuned in for some part of the match, which saw audiences peak with 8.2 million viewers as Canada midfielder Stephen Eustáquio scored the winning goal.
On TSN platforms, live streaming audiences were nearly triple that of the first knockout stage match in 2022. The Canada vs. South Africa match also ranks as the fourth most-watched World Cup match on record.
Elsewhere, Brazil’s last-gap win over Japan was watched by over 50 million people in the soccer-mad South American nation.
The 2-1 triumph reached 51.9 million viewers across all its platforms, including TV Globo, Sportv, and GeTV.
According to audience data in Brazil, the number was 263% higher than that recorded by streaming platform CazéTV, which broadcast the match for free on YouTube and had a peak of 21 million connected devices.
Globo secured an audience share of 55.1%.
Meanwhile, Germany’s shock exit from the tournament was watched by an average audience of 17.57 million in the country on ZDF.
The public broadcaster secured a 74.5% market share among all viewers as Germany were knocked out by Paraguay on penalties following a 2-2 draw.
The late start for the match (10:30pm in Germany) was likely the main reason why ZDF’s viewership was slightly lower than for previous matches.
Tournament favourites France also advanced to the last-16 after a resounding 3-0 win over Sweden.
The country’s fourth consecutive victory at this World Cup attracted an average audience of 10.23 million viewers on M6, representing a 71% audience share.
This was down on the 13.68 million that watched France’s 4-1 win over Norway in the final group stage game, with the kick-off time (11pm locally) also playing a factor in the decrease.
France will face Paraguay in the round of 16 on Saturday in Philadelphia, again with an 11pm kick-off, and will be shown on M6 and BeIN Sports.
