How Roku powered a record-breaking moment for soccer’s biggest global tournament

Sports discovery, engagement, and subscription sign-ups on Roku surged during the tournament – here’s what Roku’s data tells us about how sports and streaming are growing together.

This summer’s global soccer tournament was a defining moment for streaming, and a glimpse into the future of live sports. In the U.S. alone, a record average combined audience of 62.8 million viewers tuned in to the final in English and Spanish, and with nearly half of all U.S. TV viewing now happening on streaming, a significant share of that audience tuned in through Roku. In fact, Roku was the top platform in the United States for streaming the World Cup® according to Nielsen1.

That’s a meaningful milestone for a platform that reaches more than half of U.S. broadband homes and 100 million households worldwide, and it’s one piece of a much bigger story about how sports and streaming are converging.

Sports affinity on Roku is at an all-time high

Beyond major tentpole events, fans are building habits around sports on streaming. Even before the global tournament kicked off, an estimated 55 million Roku households showed a “sports affinity” by engaging with sports content on Roku2 between April 2025 – 2026. That’s a new record, and a sign that sports fandom is continuing to grow alongside streaming access to sports from major leagues and niche favorites.

Take it from Roku’s Head of Sports, Joe Franzetta: “This summer’s tournament is a prime example of a trend that’s been building for a while. Sports fans on streaming are becoming mainstream. They’re a growing and passionate audience of all ages. When we build experiences that solve the viewer’s pain points, we also help every partner we work with grow their business.”

Sports discovery on Roku is climbing around the world

Overall, total sports viewing on the Roku platform in the U.S. hit a Q2 high. Comparing the first half of 2025 to the first half of 2026, Roku saw sports streaming hours originating from our discovery surfaces grow across North America, with the World Cup providing a huge boost in Mexico and Canada3.

The magnitude of growth in Mexico and Canada shows the impact that our sports discovery experience can have in more nascent markets, while still driving growth in mature markets like the U.S. It also underscores how important the event was to those viewers, and how quickly streaming is becoming the default way fans catch the action around the world.

Roku’s sports discovery helped fans find the games and our partners grow

It’s no secret that the fragmentation of sports on streaming presents a real discovery challenge: matches can be scattered across multiple apps, services, and subscription tiers. Part of what makes Roku so effective at driving discovery and engagement for our partners is our focus on simplifying the experience for the viewer’s needs first.

That’s where Roku’s Sports Experience, including sport-specific “Zones” like the Soccer Zone we launched for the World Cup®, come in. The results speak for themselves:

• In Q2 2026, the Soccer Zone alone drove hundreds of thousands of sign-ups for Roku’s content and streaming partners, making the tournament one of the largest cross-partner acquisition events in Roku’s history.

• In North America, Roku’s Sports Zones saw a 122% increase in streaming hours and 80% growth in unique visitors year-over-year in Q2.

• Sports Zones launched in the United Kingdom and Brazil just before the tournament – and soccer fans in both countries took advantage of the new hub with millions of visitors in the first month.

• Worldwide, an average of 39% of Soccer Zone visitors were repeat visitors who came back across multiple match days throughout the tournament, a strong signal that the Zone became a go-to destination rather than a one-time stop4.

This builds on a pattern we’ve seen before: in February — when there was a different kind of football trophy at stake and a different global tournament occurring — on Roku, more than half of Peacock sign-ups originated from the Roku Experience (i.e. a Roku-controlled surface). And this summer, we did it again: on Roku, more than half of subscription sign-ups for the services carrying matches in the U.S. originated from the Roku Experience during the tournament.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan or tuning in to share a cultural experience, when we reduce friction in live sports streaming, everyone wins.

The bigger picture: streaming is the future of sports fandoms

Roku always strives to make better TV for everyone – viewers, partners, and advertisers alike. When it’s easier for fans to discover the games, leagues and teams they love, the entire streaming ecosystem benefits: viewers get to the action faster, partners grow their audiences, and brands and advertisers reach more engaged streamers.

Joe said, “Leagues, rights holders, and brands are all grappling with the same question right now: How do you engage younger fans who didn’t grow up watching sports on cable? Streaming discovery is a huge part of the answer. When a fan can open one Zone and find every match, every team, every storyline they care about and the ancillary content that elevates them, that’s a much more personalized journey than flipping through channels ever was. It’s a real opportunity for leagues that want to build the next generation of fans.”

Roku’s insights from this World Cup® leave no doubt that sports have crossed over into the streaming era, and Roku is playing a central role in that shift by not only helping our partners distribute the games, but helping fans find them.

What’s next

Leagues and rights holders want to be where the fans are. As more leagues, tournaments and major sporting events all around the world move toward streaming-first (and increasingly streaming-exclusive) distribution, Roku will keep investing in experiences that push the whole streaming industry forward.

The World Cup® showed what’s possible when sports and streaming come together at scale, and it’s only the beginning.

Footnotes:
1. U.S. viewership and platform-ranking figures are based on Nielsen’s NPOWER Streaming Meter analysis of World Cup® telecasts in the U.S. (HH, P2+, P18+ Reach across internet-connected platforms/devices, 6/11/26–7/19/26)
2. “Sports affinity” reflects multi-platform behavioral signals (including streaming and search) over a 12-month lookback window ending April 2026)
3.  Sports streaming hour growth figures compare 1H 2025 to 1H 2026 and include World Cup® viewing
4. Sports Zone engagement and repeat-visitor figures reflect Q2 2026 performance across all participating markets.