World Cup Drives TVP to Retain Top Spot in July as Live Sport Buoys Polish Viewership

Polsat reclaims second place, ByteDance climbs to eighth, and live football mitigates traditional summer drop-off on linear television.

Warsaw, Poland, August 20, 2026 Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and media intelligence, has today released its All Screens Video Landscape Report for July 2026. The All Screens Video Landscape Report tracks total household viewership (defined as a combination of total reach and time spent) in Poland across four screens: TVs, PCs/laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

TVP Retains Ranking Lead Amidst Podium Shuffle Building on its June momentum, public broadcaster TVP retained the number one spot in the content distributor rankings for July, increasing its audience share to 20.09% (up from 19.90% in June).

The remaining podium positions saw a swap: Polsat climbed to second place with a 17.23% share (up marginally from 17.18%), pushing Warner Bros. Discovery down to third place with 16.87% (down from 17.39%). Further down the top ten, short-form mobile video platform ByteDance (TikTok) made a significant leap, rising from 10th to 8th place.

World Cup Dominates Top Programme Standings Premium live sports remained the central engine behind TVP's top-ranking performance. Polish viewing during the month was overwhelmingly concentrated around live football, with 17 of the top 20 most-watched programmes in July being FIFA World Cup matches and related coverage.

Live Football Softens Historical Summer Decline Historically, July marks a period of contraction in broad reach as warm weather and summer holidays draw audiences away from indoors.

While a seasonal decline was recorded in July 2026, the presence of the World Cup significantly cushioned the drop for traditional television:

Reach Resilience: Streaming experienced a -4.22% month-on-month decrease in reach, while linear TV reach fell by a much milder -1.89%. By comparison, linear TV reach dropped by -2.51% in July 2025, demonstrating the World Cup's ability to retain linear audiences.

Engagement Growth: Average Time Spent (ATS) on linear TV grew by 0.52% year-on-year in July 2026, contrasting sharply with the -0.24% decrease recorded during the same period in July 2025.

Lucyna Koba, Market Leader, Nielsen Poland, said: July's data reinforces that premium live sports remain the ultimate appointment-to-view' experience, capable of overriding typical seasonal declines. While summer holidays traditionally pull households away from their screens, the FIFA World Cup acted as a powerful anchor, driving 17 of the month's top 20 broadcasts and propelling Telewizja Polska to hold its top spot with over 20% audience share.

What is particularly striking is how live sport continues to demonstrate the unmatched resilience of traditional linear television. Even during a peak summer month, linear TV viewing duration grew year-on-year. This proves that when high-stakes international sporting events are broadcast live, the shared, real-time experience of traditional television remains an unrivaled driver for Polish audiences.

About Nielsen Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences-now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).

Distributors July 2026 Polsat: Eleven Sports1, Eleven Sports2, Disco Polo Music, Eska Rock TV, Eska TV Extra, Eska TV, Fokus TV, Nowa TV, Polo TV, Polsat, Polsat Caf , Polsat Doku, Polsat Film, Polsat Games, Polsat Music HD, Polsat News, Polsat News2, Polsat Play, Polsat Rodzina, Polsat Seriale, Polsat Sport 1, Polsat Sport 2, Polsat Sport Fight, Polsat Sport 3, Polsat2, Super Polsat, Wydarzenia 24, TV4, TV6, Vox Music TV, Polsat News Polityka, Polsat X, Polsat Reality, Polsat Film2, holding:Grupa Polsat

Warner Bros. Discovery: Cartoonito, Cartoon Network, Warner TV, Animal Planet HD, Discovery, Discovery Historia, Discovery Life, Discovery Science, Discovery Travel & Living, Discovery World, Discovery Civilisation, DTX, Eurosport1, Eurosport2, Food Network, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, Metro, TLC, Travel Channel, TTV - Twoja Telewizja, TVN, TVN Fabula, TVN Style, TVN Turbo, TVN24, TVN 24 Bis, TVN7, holding: Warner Bros. Discovery

TVP: TVP4K, TVP ABC, TVP Dokument, TVP HD, TVP Historia, TVP Info, TVP Kultura, TVP Kobieta, TVP Nauka, TVP Polonia, TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale, TVP Sport, TVP1, TVP2, TVP3, holding: Telewizja Polska

Google: YouTube

TV Puls: TV Puls, Puls2

Telewizja Republika: TV Republika

Meta: Facebook, Instagram

SPI International: Stopklatka, Kino Polska, Kino Polska Muzyka, Kino TV, Zoom TV, Gametoon, Novelas 1, FILMBOX Premium, FILMBOX Family, FILMBOX Action, FILMBOX Extra

ByteDance: TikTok

Netflix: Netflix

Press contact Ben Gold, Director of Communications, EMEA

E: ben.gold@nielsen.com

M: 44 7816 252 017

Market contact

Lucyna Koba, Market Lead, Nielsen Poland

E: lucyna.koba@nielsen.com

M: 48 602 477 386

LINK:	https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2026/world-cup-drives-tvp-to-retai...
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