The US, Canada, and Mexico’s joint hosting of the 2026 FIFA World Cup has provided strong broadcast dividends for major networks across the three nations. Despite each host exiting in the round-of-16, their respective exits drew record numbers for various markets.
Furore around the US striker Folarin Balogun’s overturned suspension drew global attention on the US’s round-of-16 game against Belgium, and, despite the 4-1 loss, the game drew record numbers on broadcaster Fox.
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An average of 30 million viewers took in the game, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in the country’s history, a figure made more impactful given that it accounts for pre-match shoulder coverage also.
Rising domestic interest in what was a positive string of US performances before the Belgium game, and the inherent boon of being a host nation, meant that viewership has been increasing throughout the tournament.
Peaking at 36.9 million viewers, the average far exceeded even the 2026 NBA Finals, one of US sports’ most popular annual events, and could rival top- regular season NFL games for viewership interest.
The previous record was set in the round-of-32, when the US’ win over Bosnia & Herzegovina drew 26.4 million.
During the Bosnia-Herzegovina game, US striker Folarin Balogun was handed a red card, meaning he was due to miss the Belgium game. FIFA, however, suspended his one-game suspension until after the World Cup, allowing him to feature.
That decision, unprecedented in nature mid-tournament, drew a firestorm of criticism from national and international soccer bodies, which was compounded when US president Donald Trump intervened to claim credit for the suspension of the red card.
While viewership for the Bosnia game was also high, which illustrates a consistent viewership trend beyond external political attention, there is certainly an argument to suggest it aided wider interest.
Before this year, the record for a game (including pre-match coverage) sat at 15.38 million for a 2022 World Cup group stage game against England.
All five of the US’ games in the 2026 edition beat that figure, and have become five of the eight most-watched soccer broadcasts in the US ever, with the two knockout games, of course, the two most-watched ever.
While new measurement techniques, including the addition of out-of-home viewing estimates, have heavily changed how viewership in the US is calculated in recent years and grown such numbers massively, this is still a massive gain for soccer in the country, and a major win for Fox.
Spanish-language coverage of the same game on rival NBC and its Telemundo channel performed similarly well, attracting an early estimate cumulative total of 12 million viewers, which would make it the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast of a US national team game ever.
An average minute audience of 6.7 million also makes it the most-streamed USMNT soccer game on any Spanish-language coverage outlet in US history.
That figure is up 22% on the US’s round-of-32 game against Bosnia, itself a record for Spanish-language coverage of the USMNT game.
A combined audience of 42 million across English and Spanish-language coverage, more than even some early-round NFL playoff games, is another reflection of the strength of the US broadcast market that Fox and NBC were so desperate to tap into when acquiring the rights to this tournament.
In the same round, Canadian broadcast heavyweight Bell Media drew “record-breaking” viewership in the country for the Canadian national team’s final game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, despite its defeat by Morocco.
The game, a 3-0 win for Morocco in the round-of-16, was nonetheless highly viewed in Canada, with TSN recording an average of 5.4 million across its primary English-language linear network CTV, sports-focused TSN, French Language RDS, and Noovo, and the Crave streaming service.
That figure made the game the most-watched FIFA World Cup game in Canada ever, outside of the World Cup final.
Viewership peaked at 7.3 million viewers in the second half after Canada first fell behind, and in total, a collective 11.7 million unique viewers tuned in to at least part of the tournament.
Overall, the 5.4 million figure represents an increase of over 500% on the opening round-of-16 game of the 2022 World Cup, owing naturally to Canada qualifying to that stage for the first time in history, and excitement was no doubt compounded by Canada’s success in the round-of-32, creating additional interest and momentum.
Bell Media claims that 69% of the entire Canadian population has watched FIFA World Cup coverage so far, with a total viewing hour tally of 274 million across the tournament, which Canada is co-hosting for the first time.
Across the round-of-32, Bell Media networks averaged 1.9 million per game, including Canada’s win over South Africa, which averaged 5.2 million.
Elsewhere in round-of-16 action, England’s 3-2 win over Mexico in the same round is on track to break records on Spanish-speaking TV in the US.
The tense game, which saw Mexico push England for an equalizer up until the last moment, drew a preliminary 23.1 million on NBC-owned Spanish-language network Telemundo and the Peacock streaming service, meaning that unless the figure is negatively adjusted, it will be the most-watched Spanish-language soccer broadcast in US history.
That number far exceeded the 18.9 million that watched Mexico’s round-of-32 victory over Ecuador days prior.
A particular driver in this interest was the significant Mexican diaspora population of the US, which makes up around 11.2% of the US population (over 38.5 million) per 2022 US Census estimates.
Across the Atlantic, despite the game taking place in the early hours of the morning UK time, a major audience of 7.8 million watched England’s win on the UK public service broadcaster BBC.
Peaking at 9.1 million, the game enjoyed a huge 86% viewership share on UK televisions per outlet Digital i, with a further 900,000 watching the full-game re-run on the secondary BBC Sport channel later in the day, peaking at 1.1 million.
Overall, the live game was the best-performing broadcast on UK TV between 2 am and 4 am ever, and the resulting coverage resulted in the best-ever day for the BBC Sport digital platforms (the titular app and website) ever, with 15 million unique visitors and 330 million video views across social media platforms.
Even the pre-match buildup before the game, up until 2 am, drew seven-figure viewership of around 2.4 million, although that may have been aided by the lack of competing television after midnight.
