Record audiences for the 2026 FIFA World Cup helped drive Bell Media revenues higher in the latest quarter for its parent company BCE Inc., despite recording a lower profit overall for the three-month period compared with a year ago.
Strong advertiser demand during the soccer tournament â for which all 104 matches aired on Bell platforms such as TSN, RDS, CTV, Noovo, and Crave â boosted Bell Mediaâs ad revenue by 5.3 per cent year-over-year in the second quarter.
Bell Mediaâs operating revenue was up 8.9 per cent to $918 million in the quarter, as subscriber revenue increased 6.7 per cent. Total subscriptions for streaming platform Crave reached nearly 5.1 million, or 23 per cent higher than last year.
âThat scale matters because it gives a strong owned and operated domestic platform for premium content, sports and streaming anchored in Canadian storytelling and our commitment to cultural sovereignty,â BCE president and CEO Mirko Bibic told analysts Thursday on the companyâs earnings call.
He called the World Cup a âmajor highlightâ for the quarter, with Bellâs live coverage of games reaching 30.5 million unique viewers in Canada. The tournamentâs final between Spain and Argentina on July 19 became the most watched World Cup match ever in Canada, with an average audience of 6.4 million viewers.
âMatches also consistently ranked among the most-watched content on Crave,â Bibic said.
âOverall, (the second quarter) reinforced the strategic role Bell Media plays inside BCE: premium content, growing streaming scale, and stronger digital monetization.â
Total digital revenues grew 5.8 per cent…