MUMBAI: The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia continues to deliver strong viewership numbers for host broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) in its fourth week.
The tournament that is being telecast live on SONY TEN 2, SONY TEN 3 and SONY ESPN channels and live streamed on SonyLIV app & website, garnered over 192 million viewers across 58 matches played until Week 4 of the tournament, according to data released by the network.
Key viewership highlights for 58 matches of the tournament (SPN Sports Channels + Sony LIV)
· Total cumulative reach of the tournament on the network is 192.7 million viewers
· 150.7 million viewers watched the World Cup on TV and over 42 million viewers live streamed it on SonyLIV app and website
(BARC, All India, CS2+, LIVE matches + wraparound shows + highlights + repeats + surround programming of FIFA World Cup, SPN Sports Network, SonyLIV).
Key Viewership Highlights for 58 matches of the tournament (only SPN Sports Channels)
· The 58 LIVE matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia has been watched by 96.7 million viewers across India on the sports channels of Sony Pictures Networks. The 8-pre-quarter final and 2 quarter final matches telecast in Week 4 have been watched by 57.1 million viewers
(BARC, All India, CS2+, LIVE matches, SPN Sports Network)
· 63.1 million viewers in rural markets across India have sampled SPN’s television coverage of World Cup Russia – 42% of the overall TV reach
(BARC, All India Rural, CS2+, LIVE matches+wraparound shows+highlights+repeats+surround programming of FIFA World Cup, SPN Sports Network)
Top markets in terms of highest reach for LIVE matches
· West Bengal – 20.4 mn
· Kerala – 16.9 mn
· Maharashtra/ Goa – 10.5 mn
· North East – 10.1 mn
The France vs Argentina pre-quarter final has been the most watched game in the tournament till date with 22.2 million viewers tuning in to watch the game. There were three other matches which were sampled by more than 20 million viewers – Brazil vs Mexico, Uruguay vs France and Spain vs Russia (BARC, All India, CS2+, SPN Sports Network)
Local language feeds (Hindi+Malayalam+Bengali+Tamil+Telugu) have contributed to 47% of the overall viewership.
(BARC, All India, CS2+, LIVE matches with local language feed, SPN Sports Network)
SPN’s regional commentary has scored with 9.0 million viewers in Kerala sampling Malayalam commentary and 9.2 million viewers in West Bengal sampling Bengali commentary. 36.3 million viewers across India have sampled SPN’s regional commentary feed
(BARC, All India, CS2+, LIVE matches, Sony ESPN)
