FIFA World Cup 2026 drives millions to BBC Sport digital platforms in opening week, as highlights, visualised podcasts and new innovations lead engagement

Wednesday 17 June delivered the biggest day on the BBC Sport app since the blockbuster 14 July 2024 finals, when Alcaraz battled Djokovic at Wimbledon and England faced Spain in the Euro 2024 final.

More than 3 million users came to the BBC for live pages, video and analysis on the biggest sporting stories across football, cricket and tennis.

World Cup highlights were streamed 11.6 million times, a staggering 197% increase on Euro 2024, underscoring the audience’s appetite for BBC Sport coverage.

BBC Football Daily’s visualised podcast has attracted almost a quarter of a million streams for a single episode, showcasing the strong audience demand for visualised audio formats. Episodes are regularly bringing in more than 100k viewers on iPlayer alone.

There have been 235 million social media views in the opening week across BBC Sport. The most‑watched clip so far, with 13.1m views, features Virgil Van Dijk's take on the hydration breaks.

New innovations resonated strongly with audiences, with the second‑screen 3D Experience used more than 1 million times in its first week, highlighting the growing demand for immersive ways to follow the action.

BBC live coverage streaming records were broken in week one with France vs Senegal becoming the biggest ever UHD event on the BBC at over 600k concurrent streams.

Alex Kay-Jelski, BBC Director of Sport said: “On top of the millions flocking to live games - even in the middle of the night - it’s fantastic to see the appetite for our on-demand World Cup coverage has sky-rocketed.

"Whether it’s our no-spoiler highlights, the visualised Football Daily podcast or our new shorts video tab, live pages and written stories, we are meeting audiences where they are, when they want.

"We’re delighted to see the influx of young audiences using our 3D tool and games alongside the loyal BBC Sport obsessives who are devouring cricket, tennis and more alongside the football.”

RM4

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