Audiences for the first four days of CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup are tracking 60% higher than group stage matches during the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
Saturday’s spirited match-up between England and Italy attracted a 2+ audience of 2.8 million, surpassing the previous high of 2.2 million for a group stage match, which was achieved during the 2010 match between England and the U.S.
Sunday’s match between Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina—which featured a long-awaited strike from global superstar Lionel Messi—attracted 1.9 million viewers 2+, making it the second most-watched game of the tournament to date.
More than 21 million Canadians have tuned into some aspect of the World Cup coverage on CBC/Radio-Canada and its broadcast partners, surpassing the 19.3 million achieved during the first four days of the 2010 World Cup.
More than a quarter (27%) of all Canadians watched at least part of the first day’s coverage across TV and digital platforms. Nearly 9.3 million Canadians watched at least part of the opening day’s coverage, including 400,000 who watched via a digital platform.
The opening match between host nation Brazil and Croatia garnered an average audience of more than 1.6 million viewers, a 73% increase over the audience for the opening match of the 2010 World Cup. The audience peaked at nearly 2.4 million viewers towards the end of the match.
In total, the opening match reached more than 5.2 million Canadians, an increase of nearly two million viewers compared to 2010’s opening match. The average audience for the opening match was higher than that of both of the opening day games in 2010.
