World Cup ratings breaking records
It’s been described as one of the most boring World Cups in history because of the tight defensive play, missed opportunities and low scoring, but that doesn’t seem to be deterring viewers from turning on their television sets to watch the games. The ratings for the World Cup thus far have been very strong, proving that FIFA doesn’t have to worry too much about people being turned off by the slow pace of play.
U.S soccer market achieves breakout status
Even in the U.S, where the time difference means most games fall in the morning or early afternoon, fans have been watching in record numbers. 13 million people watched the English language broadcast of the U.S opener against England on ABC, where the Americans pulled out a 1-1 draw. Another four million viewers watched the Spanish language broadcast of the game. That’s good enough to more than double the final game of hockey's Stanley Cup finals, which pulled in eight million viewers, and it also beat out the first four games of the N.B.A finals. It was also almost as many viewers as watched it in soccer-mad England, where just over 17 million people viewed. For England, that’s about a third of their population of 51 million.
"We have unprecedented interest in the United States," ESPN Executive Vice President John Skipper said earlier this week. "We have had the strategy of trying to get America to understand that this is a worldwide event."
Even the vuvuzela, a horn used by South African fans isn’t preventing people from turning in. The vuvuzela has created a constant din at events, with viewers complaining to broadcasters around the world and TV networks scrambling to try and filter out the noise. In America, the increasingly globalised nature of sports may be the cause for the ratings increases.
“The public is aware that we are in a world wide marketplace, and a world wide sports market. Sports fans are more sophisticated than ever before," Neal Pilson, the former head of CBS Sports and president of Pilson Communications told TIME Magazine.
According to SportsBusiness Daily, ratings are up 64 per cent over the 2006 World Cup, with regions with high numbers of Hispanic and immigrant populations showing the greatest viewership.
Worldwide phenomenon
But the games have been closely followed around the world. In South Korea, their national team’s match against Argentina drew a 52 per cent television rating, with millions of Koreans tuning in to watch their team fall 1-4 to a powerful Argentinian squad. Even in North Korea games are being watch, with reports of North Koreans cheering on their South Korean neighbors and fierce political enemies in their 2-0 victory over Greece in the tournament’s opener.
The tournament’s opener, a match between host South Africa and Mexico drew record viewership in the African nation. The previous sporting event record of 7.35 million was shattered as over 10 million South Africans watched their team tie Mexico 1-1.
In Italy the first game against Paraguay nearly set a record number of viewers and achieved a 73 per cent audience share.
Kevin Alavy, an analyst who specializes in ratings, noted that the amount of viewers who tuned in in Argentina to watch their country’s opener was “staggeringly high for a Saturday lunchtime.” Even when broadcast records are not being beaten, it’s worthy of note that the strong ratings come in spite of the time difference between the Western hemisphere and South Africa, which makes games begin as early as 4:30 AM for many fans on the West Coast of the U.S, Canada and South American countries.
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