TORONTO – Just days into the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, CBC’s extensive coverage has pulled in record numbers.
Close to 1 million viewers watched host nation South Africa take on Mexico in the opening match of the tournament last Friday, while on Saturday, the England / USA match attracted an average audience of 2.275 million viewers to CBC Television, the highest average audience for a preliminary round FIFA World Cup broadcast in Canadian history.
Five of the first eight live matches on CBC Television topped 1 million viewers, in some cases tripling average audiences for preliminary round matches in 2006.
And viewers aren’t just tuning in on television. More than 250,000 watched the opening match on-line, while live games attracted more than 750,000 total streams on through the first three days of coverage.
