The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil may have been a record-shattering event for streaming, but online viewership still didn’t come close to that of linear television. This year’s tournament promises a much closer race, with streaming nearing traditional TV for the first time.
As broadcasters around the world cater to soccer fans who have cut the cable cord, the Interactive Advertising Bureau forecasts that 65 percent of consumers who have live streamed video previously will live stream matches during the month-long tournament, which kicked off today. That compares with the IAB’s expectation that just 71 percent of fans will watch live on linear TV.
The vast majority of those streaming online are expected to do so through their smartphones, according to the IAB. Roughly 36 percent of fans said they planned to stream via smartphones, followed by 29% on smart TVs, 26 percent on computers and laptops, and 21 percent on tablets.
Sports fans in Brazil, China, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States are most likely to live stream matches, according to the report. Slightly more than half of fans overall plan to watch recorded games, online or on TV, which they’d be able to access on-demand at their convenience.
In a statement, Eric John, who serves as deputy director of the IAB’s Digital Video Center of Excellence, said live streaming offers unique opportunities for brands to reach consumers.
“The World Cup is just one example of the kind of event that will spark massive live streaming around the world and will attract brands which recognize the potential for effectively reaching audiences in live video environments,” John said.
A record-breaking 5.3 million unique viewers watched matches online in the United States alone during the 2014 World Cup. This year, fans have access to many more options. Fox Sports has exclusive English broadcasting rights in the U.S., and will stream every game through FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app. NBCUniversal’s Telemundo own the U.S. media rights for the Spanish-language broadcast, and will offer streaming options. People without cable will be able to catch games through internet TV packages, such as Sling TV, YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV and DirecTV Now.
Other countries are also offering increased streaming options. In China, for example, Youku, a Chinese streaming site owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba, recently won Chinese digital streaming rights to the 2018 World Cup. The site entered into a partnership with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), China’s exclusive World Cup broadcaster. The extension of the digital rights beyond just CCTV’s digital platform, CNTV, marks a break from the historical norm, where national broadcasters once held tightly to exclusivity. Youku will share digital rights with state-owned China Mobile’s Migu Video.
Four years ago, FIFA touted the 2014 World Cup as the “biggest multimedia sporting event in history.” The 2018 tournament is set to be even bigger.
SportTechie Takeaway
Streaming is on the rise across sports, even as overall viewership has at times declined. The 2018 Super Bowl on NBC, for example, had an average online viewership of 2 million, a 15 percent increase over Fox in the year-earlier period. Streaming increased for Super Bowl LII despite a 7 percent decline in total viewership. In 2014, the Super Bowl attracted an online audience of just 508,000, according to the Verge. Similar trends have occurred for the Winter Olympics, which are held the same year as the World Cup. While NBC’s TV ratings for this year’s Winter Olympics were down roughly 7 percent, streaming increased three-fold, according to Sporting News.
This has prompted broadcasters to offer more streaming services, such as ESPN+, which launched this year. Hulu Live TV also continues to pick up new live sporting events, while tech companies such as Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook are snapping up digital rights.