A Third of World Cup Fans’ TV Time is Online

With the FIFA World Cup just beginning, marketers will be searching for the best opportunities to reach the tournament’s most engaged viewers, and where they’ll be watching is most key. With this is mind, today’s chart explores the daily TV consumption trends of World Cup Fans across the world.

Linear TV is still the king of the media landscape, with a global lead of 45 minutes per day.

That said, online TV’s presence in daily entertainment portfolios continues to increase steadily – now accounting for 38% of global World Cup Fans’ total daily TV viewing time. The majority of fans will be tuning in via their TV sets then, but there’s likely to be many more turning to online streams now than in the 2014 World Cup.

The regional perspective falls inline with wider global trends. North American World Cup Fans are watching the most online TV each day – pushed by the success of Netflix in the region – but importantly, as a percentage of the total TV they watch, online forms account for around 36% daily.

In APAC, online TV’s share of daily time is much higher at 44% – just 20 minutes behind linear forms in the region.

VPN usage as a route to access restricted entertainment is also highest here – and is likely to climb higher when World Cup Fans begin looking for ways to watch matches with restricted access that are broadcast across borders.

Online services are already an established touchpoint for brands to engage digital consumers.

And with the FIFA World Cup engaging billions of consumers globally across continents and timezones, online services will likely be a hotspot to serve the many tuning in to watch matches wherever and whenever they please.

World Cup Fans are defined as internet users aged 16-64 who watch the FIFA World Cup online or on TV.