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State of the Screens

Sacre bleu! World Cup Final ratings drop in France’s morning of victory

By July 24, 2018No Comments
English language viewers for World Cup final:

1) 2014–14.1M
2) 2018–12.5M (↓ 12%)

Spanish language coverage:
1) 2014 (Univision) — 9.2M
2) 2018 (Telemundo) — 5.5M (↓ 41%)

Share from streaming (% of total):
1) Fox — 552K (4%)
2) Telemundo — 130K (2%)

Bottom line: Linear TV viewership for sports is declining faster than streaming is growing.

Change in viewership (2014 vs. 2018):
1) Linear — ↓ 9.6M
2) Streaming — ↑ 682K

Share of viewership from streaming:
1) 2018 World Cup — 4%
2) 2018 Super Bowl — 1%

Potential impact of start time:
1) 2002 (7:00am) — 3.9M
2)
2018 (11:00am) — 11.8M
3) 1994 (3:30pm) — 14.5M

Recent championships:
1) World Cup Final — 11.8M
2) Stanley Cup Final (Game 6) — 6.6M

Flashback: World Cup TV Ad Sales Could Hit $600 Million

Estimated World Cup advertising:
1) Global — $2.4B
2) U.S — $600M (25% of total)

Quick math:
1) 7.6B
is the global population
2) 3.5B will watch World Cup from 200 different countries
3) 1 out of every 2.2 people on earth will watch part of World Cup

1B+ watched the 2014 finale between Germany and Argentina.

U.S. ad spend in 2014 (% of total):
1) Total — $523M
2) Univision — $336M (64%)
3) ABC/ESPN — $187M (36%)

Watch: The team at TV[R]EV break down which brands were winning during the World Cup.

More #1: Fox Losing Money on World Cup Without U.S. Team

World Cup TV rights fees:
1) 2010 + 2014 (ESPN) — $100M
2) 2018 + 2022 (FOX) — $400M (↑​ 300%)

More #2: Fox set a streaming record during the World Cup on Monday

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.