MUMBAI: The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia continues its strong run for football viewership in India in its third 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 153 million viewers across 48 matches played in the first 16 days of the tournament, host broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India declared.
Key Viewership Highlights for 48 matches of the tournament:
The total cumulative reach of the event on our network is 153.2 million viewers (BARC, All India, CS2+, LIVE matches + wraparound shows + highlights + repeats + surround programming of FIFA World Cup, SPN Sports Network, SonyLIV)
123.2 million viewers watched the World Cup on TV and over 30 million viewers live streamed it on SonyLIV app and website
The 48 group stage matches have been watched live by 83.9 million viewers across India on SPN’s sports channels (BARC, All India, CS2+, LIVE matches, SPN Sports Network)
Over 60% of the overall TV reach came from HSM markets. 72.7 million viewers in the HSM markets sampled the coverage on SPN’s sports channels (BARC, HSM, CS2+, LIVE matches+wraparound shows+highlights+repeats+surround programming of FIFA World Cup, SPN Sports Network)
51.5 million viewers in rural markets across India have sampled our FIFA WC 2018 television coverage – 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)
Highest markets in terms of reach for live matches
West Bengal – 17.5 mn
Kerala – 15.8 mn
North East – 9.3 mn
Maharashtra/ Goa – 9.0 mn
Female viewership has contributed to 47% of the tournament reach till date (BARC, All India, CS2+, LIVE matches, 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 been well received, with 8.0 million viewers in Kerala sampling Malayalam commentary and 7.0 million viewers in West Bengal sampling Bengali commentary
