The FIFA World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the entire world. It attracts an audience in over 200 countries. The Super Bowl, which is the most watched sporting event in the United States, had an audience of 111.5 million viewers in 2018. Meanwhile, 909.6 million people tuned into the World Cup Final in 2014 for at least one minute. That’s over eight times the amount of viewers for the FIFA World Cup and that didn’t even account for the entire tournament.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup reached an audience of 3.2 billion viewers. That number is expected to rise to 3.5 billion for this year’s tournament. Being that it is a global event, it attracts an outrageous number of viewers at the same time creating fantastic opportunities for marketers and advertisers to target massive audiences and also reach a large amount of different demographics.
Advertisers usually reach and target their audiences on a national scale but now they have the opportunity to be on a global stage right alongside the best soccer teams in the world and the best and newest TV technology.
It is especially exciting considering all the different ways fans will be able to watch the games this year. Whether it is at the stadium, at home, at a store, or at the bar, you can be sure that people will be watching one way or another. Since the last World Cup, mobile has increased in functionality mainly in that fans can and will watch games from their phones. It is certain that mobile device use will increase compared to the last tournament for watching the games. For digital marketers that’s an important trend to be aware of, as they carefully plan their media buys to target consumers when and where they will be most engaged. And if you are new to programmatic advertising then there is no time like the present, as the audience is huge and the opportunity for eyeballs like this doesn’t present itself that often
“We are proud to say that this FIFA World Cup has been the biggest multimedia sporting event in history, with more people watching matches and highlights online than ever before.” – Niclas Ericson, FIFA Director of TV
Digilant’s FIFA 2018 Digital Advertising Infographic covers who the consumers are, social media trends, how the content is consumed and by who, and more!
We’re not giving you odds for each game but predictions for reach and social media mentions. Just like how fans are going to track their favorite teams, we’ll be tracking media spend, audience engagement, and all things digital. Enjoy the games!
Download the full infographic here and don’t forget to share #DigilantData.
Interested in learning more about how the impact on social media during the World Cup? Check out Part 2 of our FIFA World Cup 2018 Infographic series here.