Blog Initiative

Boom time for soccer in the USA - Soccer catching on with US fans in spite of early exit for the US soccer team

With the World Cup having been jointly hosted by Japan and Korea in 2002, it was very inconvenient for US soccer fans to follow the matches during the night.  Although millions of people watched the live and time-shifted broadcasts of the tournament four years ago, the scheduling of the games did not lend itself to huge audiences being drawn in the US.

Initiative’s latest ViewerTrack shows that, with the World Cup being held in Germany this year, US audiences are booming on the back of much better scheduling this time round.  With matches being broadcast live throughout the day, average audiences have more than doubled compared with World Cup 2002.  Over the first 29 matches of this year’s tournament, average program audiences across live and time-shifted broadcasts are 4.0 million, up from 2.0 million in 2002.  Thanks to a change in the Nielsen measurement of Univision, all US viewers of that network can now be counted.  This expands the sample beyond the Hispanics only. The National Nielsen projections show US audiences now nearly as large as those in the UK, where average program audiences per match are only slightly higher, at 4.3 million people.  This is in spite of the US team failing to win a match in World Cup 2006, whereas they reached the quarter-finals in 2002.

While the Hispanic market accounts for a sizeable share of soccer viewing in the US, it is also catching on among the broader population.  Data on which team’s matches are most watched reflects this.  In 2002, Mexico’s matches were most watched among the US population, with the US’s own matches only second most popular.  This time, Brazil’s matches are most popular, with large audiences for their games split across both ABC / ESPN and Univision.

Soccer is also catching on among women.  In 2002, women accounted for only 32 per cent of the total TV audience.  That share has now risen to 35 per cent.

Germany embraces World Cup host status

Using Initiative online survey tool eSpy, Initiative Hamburg has conducted a survey designed to see how the people of the Germany are enjoying the World Cup and how they are using different media to consume it.

The excitement of being the host nation prompted 82% of respondents to admit to being gripped by World Cup fever.  In terms of favourites to win, Brazil are still very much the front runner, despite many pundits’ beliefs that they have not been at their very best so far this tournament.  35% tip Ronaldinho, Kaka et al to take the cup back to South America, while only 19% backing Germany to maintain their current good form long enough to take the trophy. 

Additionally, only 20% of respondents named Germany as their favourite team, although they were still the most popular of all participating countries.  The surprise second favourite team was Trinidad & Tobago, whose antics against Sweden and England persuaded 15% of respondents to name them as their favourite team. 

The survey also revealed some of the ways in which Germans are using different media to keep up with the World Cup.  Much has been made of the likely upsurge the tournament will provoke in the sales of High Definition TV sets in Germany and of those questioned in the survey, 11% had bought new TV sets for the tournament.  Almost half of these were HD ready.  TV was also named as the most important source for World Cup news and information.  Perhaps most surprisingly, newspapers were the second most popular source, ahead of even the Internet.  Perhaps this goes to show that, even in an era mass digital development and change, the power of the humble printed word has not completely diminished.

Number of the Day - 27th June

US average program audiences of 4 million for World Cup 2006.

Are you surprised by the audience size in the US?  Let us know, post a comment!

Postcard from Spain!

Top 10 most upmarket audiences for World Cup 2006

Soccer is the most watched TV sport in a majority of countries across the world.  Huge audiences tune in to watch major international soccer events like the World Cup.  Initiative expects a global live cumulative audience of more than 5 billion viewers during World Cup 2006.

In addition to attracting huge global TV audiences, Initiative’s most recent ViewerTrack shows that in many countries the audience profile of 2006 World Cup is relatively upmarket.  Upmarket adults can be up to two-thirds more likely to watch World Cup 2006 than all adults.  Of the 41 countries for which upmarket adult data is currently available, the top ten markets with the most upmarket profiles are:

1.  Lithuania         6.  Turkey
2.  Mexico            7.  Peru
3.  India               8.  Finland
4.  Bulgaria           9.  Germany
5.  Spain             10.  Serbia and Montenegro

Relative to the overall population, upmarket adults are most likely to watch the World Cup in Lithuania.  In Lithuania, World Cup 2006 coverage is concentrated in media consumed disproportionately by upmarket adults, including the national TV station LRT, online and in the press.  With the World Cup featuring most heavily in these media, more upmarket audiences are exposed to all the action.  Interest in the World Cup is also particularly high amongst upmarket audiences due to Lithuanian soccer history.  Many upmarket adults of today were swept up by soccer passion as teenagers in the 1980s when Zalgirs, one of Lithuania’s most famous teams, was very successful.
 
Whilst World Cup 2006 has a relatively upmarket profile globally, audiences in France, Malaysia and Uruguay are less upmarket.

Number of the Day - 26th June

Upmarket adults are up to two-thirds more likely to watch World Cup 2006 than all adults.

Does this surprise you?  Let us know what you think and post a comment!

Canadians hit fever pitch

Canada has finally fallen in love with the World Cup.  The 2006 FIFA World Cup is one of the most diverse cultural events, which holds the entire global public under its spell.  That’s especially true in Canada, where viewership numbers have shown surprising strength.  In fact, viewership for the first fourteen matches in Canada has increased an astonishing 150% versus the 2002 World Cup, and 125% higher than in 1998.  In fact, Canadian audiences have provided the third largest audience increase to date for the event.

The increase in viewership goes beyond the broadcaster and improved timeslot. Even though we don’t have a team that qualified, Canadians have rallied around the World Cup as a way of expressing national and international pride.  The Cup is also great entertainment.  There are a number of countries that are competing for the first time which is drawing even more viewers to the matches.  This bodes really well for the FIFA U-20 World Cup next year, which Canada is hosting.

In Toronto, where the Initiative office is located, you don’t actually need to watch the match to see who won.  Within minutes, everyone is in their cars, up and down the downtown streets with flags spilling out the back.  Up until that point, who knew there were that many Swedes in Toronto?  Or if you don’t have a car, you just hang out at the appropriate corner store, delicatessen, or restaurant like the Turks last cup, and wave your flag at the passing honking cars.

Canada loves a Cinderella story – we still tell stories about beating Russia in hockey in 1972. And since our own team didn’t make it to the cup – we’re ranked 83rd, behind Oman – you can root for any team at all.  In the Initiative office? We had our hopes on Paraguay!

Chris Herlihey, VP Research Director, IPG Media, Canada

World Cup 2006 even more popular than World Cup 2002

Convenience is more important to consumers than ever before.  They want to enjoy media on their own terms, deciding for themselves how, when and where they consume it.  Even though the World Cup is such a major sporting event and only comes around every four years, it still needs to be broadcast at convenient times of day to attract the largest possible audiences. 

Initiative’s most recent ViewerTrack shows that World Cup 2006 is more popular than World Cup 2002 in terms of the global TV audience, because live matches are being shown at much more convenient times of day for fans in Europe and South America.  Overall global average audiences for World Cup 2006 matches are up by 25 per cent from 2002.

World Cup 2006 has seen audience growth in many European and South American countries compared with 2002.  Live matches from World Cup 2006 are shown in the afternoon and peak evening slots across Europe, attracting far more viewers than in 2002, when live matches were shown in the morning in Europe.  Even though afternoon matches are less popular than evening matches, they are still more watched than those broadcast in the morning.  Audiences have increased the most in 2006 compared with 2002 in key European soccer markets, such as the Netherlands (+10.1 ratings), Germany (+7.9 ratings) and Switzerland (+7.7 ratings).

These increases in TV ratings in Europe and South America have more than compensated for the fall in World Cup 2006 audiences in Asia compared with 2002.   With Japan / South Korea hosting the last World Cup and the unexpected success of South Korea in reaching the semi-finals, local interest pushed Asian World Cup audiences up to their highest ever levels in 2002.  However, matches from World Cup 2006 are shown live late at night and in the early hours of the morning in Asia, which has depressed their viewing figures.  Audiences are down notably in Malaysia (-6.6 ratings) and South Korea (-3.6 ratings) for 2006 vs. 2002.

Italy continue on the road to Berlin!

Italian TV station Rai 1 continues to enjoy the fruits of its World Cup coverage.  Viewing figures released for the final Italy group game against the Czech Republic showed that Rai 1 enjoyed a 78.2% share of viewing.  This was even higher than the 71% share it enjoyed in the previous Italy group game against the USA.  In total, 15.8m people tuned in to the match, even though it was broadcast live in Italy at 4pm, while many Italians were still at work.

Goals from Materazi and Inzaghi gave Italy a 2-0 win,  and as the knock-out phase commences the Italian soccer bandwagon shows no signs of slowing down.  Employees at Initiative Milano also got into the spirit of things by watching the game together in the staff room.  As these pictures show, it was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but in the end everyone went home happy!

Read the report from Initiative Milan on the viewing statistics for the Italy vs Czech Republic match

Number of the Day - 23rd June

 

World Cup 2006 global average audience per match up by 25% on World Cup 2002

Are you watching more World Cup action this year than in 2002?  Post a comment!