FIFA: Big audiences drawn to the drama of crucial final group stage matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup™
—- As their teams played their final group stage matches, broadcasters in Argentina, Croatia and Denmark posted national audience figures that yet again set the bar high on Match Day 13, while Brazilian broadcaster Globo’s coverage of the Seleção’s final group match attracted a record audience and Korea Republic’s TV stations shared coverage of a historic win over the current world champions on Match Day 14.
Match Day 13: Denmark v. France, Australia v. Peru, Nigeria v. Argentina, Iceland v. Croatia
• Argentina’s must-win final group stage match against Nigeria aired live on TV Publica, whose broadcast earned a TV rating of 18.6% (equivalent to a national audience of 7.71 million viewers), making it the highest rating of the year in Argentina to-date, beating coverage of the Albiceleste’s opener against Iceland (18.0% TVR). TV Publica’s broadcast got a market share of 58.3%, the highest of the tournament so far. Source: Zenith Argentina
• Also in Group D, Croatia v. Iceland attracted 1.28 million viewers on HTV2 (aired at 20:00 local time). This was the highest audience on Croatian television so far in 2018, marginally higher than the audience for the Croatia v. Nigeria (1.27 million viewers). 73.5% of all Croatian viewers at the time watched the coverage, which also represented 31.4% of the total potential audience (TVR). Source: EBU
• DR1 aired live coverage of Denmark’s final group match against France (16:00 kick-off local time). The broadcast drew 1.36 million viewers, 24.4% of the potential audience in Denmark (TVR), making it the most watched match of the tournament so far. The coverage was viewed by 88.9% of Danes who were watching TV at the time, the highest share for any TV broadcast in 2018. The audience was larger than that for any match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, beating even the final, which aired in prime time and was watched by 1.23 million viewers (66.9% share). Source: DR
Match Day 14: Korea Republic v. Germany, Mexico v. Sweden, Serbia v. Brazil, Switzerland v. Costa Rica
• 59.09 million viewers (29.19% rating) watched Brazil’s final group match against Serbia on Globo, making it the most watched broadcast in Brazil since 2006. This was considerably higher than any audience recorded in Brazil from the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ (top in 2014 was 42.91 million viewers on Globo for Brazil v. Croatia). This became the highest live match audience of the tournament so far on Globo, beating the 55.87 million viewers for coverage of Brazil v. Costa Rica. A market share of 81.6% was recorded on Globo, the second highest of the tournament so far in Brazil. Source: Globo
• Live coverage of Korea Republic’s impressive win over Germany was aired live during late prime time (22:00 local time) across three national broadcasters (SBS, KBS2 and MBC). The combined audience for the live match coverage was 10.09 million viewers, the highest audience of the tournament so far. The combined share of viewing for the coverage was 65.9% (also the highest so far) and represents 21.0% of the potential television audience in this territory (TVR). This was higher than any audience from the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, during which the highest combined audience was 8.46 million for coverage of Russia v. Korea Republic. Source: Starcom Korea
Note: Unless specifically referenced, these figures are preliminary and do not include digital streaming or out-of-home viewing. FIFA’s final audience report, available after the competition, will include audiences from all markets across all match days.
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