As Montreal-based Mirko Bibic, President/CEO of Bell Media parent BCE and Bell Canada, sees it, the company’s Q2 2026 results more than met the company’s expectations. In particular, the Bell Media digital strategy “continues to pay off” while FIFA World Cup rights at the CTV network brought advertisers in droves.
Bell Media operating revenue increased 8.9% year over year to $918 million, driven by both higher advertising and subscriber revenues.
Advertising revenue was up 5.3% in Q2, due to strong advertiser demand for the FIFA World Cup 2026 including higher digital video advertising revenue.
That said, this growth was moderated by continued softness in traditional advertising demand, lower audio advertising revenue following the divestiture of 45 radio stations in 2025, and the non-recurrence of advertising revenues related to the 2025 Canadian Federal Election.
Bell Media made up for that weakness with its Crave streaming platform, home to WBD brands including HBO in Canada. In Q2, Crave subscribers grew 23% year over year to nearly 5.1 million — supported by 49% growth in direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers. This helped Bell Media enjoy a 6.7% subscriber revenue increase.
Total digital revenue grew 5.8% year over year.
Overall, Bell Media’s adjusted EBITDA was up 3.8% to $244 million in Q2 2026 on the flow-through of higher operating revenue. However, the margin declined to 26.6% from 27.9% in Q2 2025, reflecting a 10.9% increase in operating costs associated with the FIFA World Cup 2026 and F1 Canadian Grand Prix; contractual rights increases for premium content; and the inclusion of Sphere Abacus operating expenses following its acquisition.
These factors were partly offset by lower labor costs and other operating efficiencies.
