Fifa World Cup grabs 47 mn eyeballs in first 2 days, 45% viewers are women

The tournament, being telecast on Sony Pictures Networks India has seen over 41 million viewers tune in on TV and another 6 million on its digital platform SonyLIV

The Fifa World Cup telecast on channels across the Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) is off to a good start, as 19.3 million people tuned in to watch the inaugural match between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the host country. 

The matches are being telecast on SONY TEN 2, SONY TEN 3 and SONY ESPN channels and live-streamed on SonyLIV app and website.  

The Fifa World Cup Russia opened with a cumulative reach (total number of people who saw the tournament for at least one minute) of 47.3 million viewers on the first two days of the tournament (four matches) on TV and digital. This includes viewership and engagement on highlights and surrounds content. Individually, TV clocked over 41 million viewers during the World Cup telecast and over 6 million viewers viewed the tournament on SonyLIV.  (Source: Broadcast Audience Research Council of India; All India market with viewers above 2 years old)

For the live telecast of the opening match, 19.3 million people tuned in on Television. The top markets for viewership so far are Kerala, West Bengal, North East and Maharashtra. Women contributed to 45 per cent of the viewership which is by far the highest for any sporting event in the country. The Vivo Indian Premier League usually sees 40 per cent viewership coming from women, while Pro Kabaddi sees women contribute to 30 per cent of the total viewership. The tournament saw high engagement with an average time spent per viewers of 39 minutes. (Source: BARC, All India, CS2+, live matches)

Rajesh Kaul, president, distribution and sports business, Sony Pictures Network India said, “This is a significant moment for football fans in the country, as we see a tournament with no Indian representation break viewership records. It is truly exciting to be a part of the transformation that this beautiful game is going through in India. Our efforts into ensuring expansive reach through the regional language feeds has yielded excellent results. We are going to keep the momentum going as the tournament picks up pace.”

According to data available on the BARC India website, the top five sports programmes for the week (June 9 to June 15) include the opening ceremony and matches from the Fifa World Cup. Three of the matches in the list were telecast on Sony Ten 2 while one was on Sony ESPN. 

• Cumulative reach (live, highlights, surround content on TV & digital): 47.3 mn
• Opening match reach (only live): 19.3 million
• Top markets by viewership: Kerala, West Bengal, and North East; 30% viewership came from Kerala, 28% and 20% from Assam/ NE & WB respectively.
• Male-Female viewership split: 55:45 
• In the week when the World Cup launched, football contributed to 66 per cent of total sports viewership
• The opening ceremony of FIFA WC 2018 telecast on Sony channels, garnered 2.1 million Impressions.
• Total impressions for the first 4 FIFA matches is 16.1 MN impressions. The viewership for first 4 Euro cup matches was 1.3 MN impressions.

Source: BARC India 

All data is for All India market, including male and female viewers above two years old 

Impressions refers to the number of people watching the tournament at any given point in its live telecast.