TORONTO — Brazil’s opening match of the World Cup attracted more than a million viewers to CBC.
Brazil’s 2-1 win over North Korea averaged an audience of 1.2 million, making it CBC’s highest-rated World Cup broadcast Monday.
New Zealand’s 1-1 draw with Slovakia averaged 404,000 viewers while the 0-0 tie between Ivory Coast and Portugal attracted an audience of 729,000. The evening replay of that game drew 661,000.
CBC said Ivory Coast versus Portugal was the most popular game online with 325,884 total live streams.
CBC’s highest-rated broadcast of the tournament so far was Saturday’s 1-1 draw between the U.S. and England. The average of 2.275 million viewers is the highest Canadian audience ever for a preliminary-round World Cup game, according to the network.
But a new ratings system was introduced in September which has seen sports ratings skyrocket in Canada so comparing the numbers is difficult.
Hockey still rules in Canada, with the highest-rated game of the recent Stanley Cup final drawing an average audience of 4.077 million. The Olympic hockey final in Vancouver drew a whopping 10.6 million viewers to CTV.
