TORONTO—More than one million Canadians tuned in to CBC to watch defending champion Italy play to a 1-1 draw with Paraguay at the World Cup on Monday.
The game drew an average audience of 1.136 million viewers, making it the highest-rated game of the day.
The 2-0 Dutch win over Denmark attracted 488,000 while Japan’s 1-0 win over Cameroon drew 637,000 viewers. An evening replay of the Netherlands-Denmark match averaged 582,000.
CBC’s highest-rated game 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.
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