Canada’s Men’s National Team made history Thursday night with their first-ever FIFA World Cup win, and Canadians showed up for it in record numbers.
The match against Qatar pulled an average audience of 5.3 million viewers across RDS, Crave, Noovo, TSN and CTV, according to Bell Media on Friday. That makes it the most-watched World Cup group stage game ever, based on preliminary numbers from Numeris, and the most-watched World Cup match in Canada since the 2014 final.
In total, 11.7 million Canadians tuned into at least part of the game, a 34% jump over Canada’s second match back in the 2022 tournament. Viewership hit its peak at 7.3 million right at 8:01 p.m ET., the moment Canada secured the win. Digital viewership was up too, climbing 104% compared to that same 2022 match.
The win capped off a strong stretch for World Cup coverage overall. Between June 11 and June 18, 21 million Canadians watched World Cup coverage across RDS, Crave, Noovo, TSN and CTV, and viewers logged more than 92 million hours of live match broadcasts, up 54% from the same period in 2022.
Even matches without Canada playing pulled an average audience of 1.2 million, also up 54%. On June 18 alone, RDS’ social platforms racked up 10.2 million views and 314,000 interactions.
RDS and TSN remain the exclusive broadcasters of the World Cup through the final on Sunday, July 19, with select matches also airing on Noovo, CTV and Crave. Canada’s next match is against Switzerland on Wednesday, June 24 at 3 p.m. PT at BC Place in Vancouver, airing live on RDS, Noovo, Crave, TSN and CTV.
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