RTÉ has produced a full commercial wrap of its extensive coverage of the FIFA World Cup, including a video highlight some of the best bits.
RTÉ’s coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup reached three million adults on television and generated more than 25 million streams on RTÉ Player, according to figures published by the broadcaster.
The tournament delivered an average daily television reach of 1.1 million viewers and a 37% audience share, with six World Cup broadcasts ranking among the 20 most-watched programmes of 2026. Overall television reach was 7% higher than for the 2022 tournament.
Audiences increased as the competition progressed, with the final between Spain and Argentina attracting an average television audience of 930,000, up 33% on the 2022 final. England’s semi-final defeat to Argentina attracted 862,000 viewers, while France’s semi-final against eventual champions Spain drew 802,000.
Streaming recorded particularly strong growth, with RTÉ Player delivering 25.2 million streams during the tournament, three times the level recorded for the 2022 World Cup. The average number of streams per match was 226,000, up 76% on 2022, while viewers consumed 626 million minutes of World Cup content on the platform.
The Spain-Argentina final became the most-streamed programme in RTÉ Player’s history, generating around 1.5 million streams. Four matches exceeded one million streams, including France v Spain with 1.04 million, Norway v England with 1.03 million and England v Argentina with 1.02 million.
RTÉ said the World Cup also delivered the Player’s biggest-ever month and its highest weekly streaming figures.
Viewing patterns highlighted the growing importance of connected television, with TV sets accounting for 29% of Player viewing, up from less than 10% during the 2022 tournament. Mobile remained the largest device category at 51%, followed by desktop at 15% and tablet at 5%.
The tournament also generated 122 million content impressions across RTÉ’s social channels, together with 91 million video views and seven million engagements across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Television data was supplied by Nielsen, with RTÉ Player figures from Piano and social data from Emplifi.
The broadcaster has already announced that it has secured the free-to-air rights to screen the next FIFA World Cup in 2030.
