How will you be watching the World Cup?

The World Cup is fast approaching and avid football fans are already planning where and how they are going to be watching matches.

Jo Roberts
Jo Roberts

Apparently half of the world’s population will follow the tournament in some way, according to Nielson’s Global Omnibus. While many analysts are talking up the digital World Cup, most people say they will be following the tournament on television.

While 86% of Britons say they are going to watch the football on television, only a quarter say they are going to follow the World Cup via online reports. And even fewer say they are going to stream matches online.

It seems that while there has been many developments that allow fans to follow the tournament online, you just can’t beat good old-fashioned television for this year’s World Cup.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a younger audience are more likely to use online methods like online streaming, video clips and forums. And brands like Coke are using digital marketing to appeal to this younger audience. Emmanuel Seuge, the group director of worldwide sports and entertainment marketing for the fizzy drinks brand says that while he’s not surprised that most people will watch live television broadcasts, the brand will also have a strong presence on digital platforms in a bid to attract a younger consumer.

But as Kristof Fahy the group brand and marketing director at William Hill says, for big events you just can’t beat television. The World Cup brings people of all generations together. “There’s something about the live event that digital can’t currently quite deliver,” he says.

Marketers will have to remember this. It seems that for all their efforts on the digital side, with such a massive global audience tuning in to watch on tv, it would be foolish to not to prioritise television as a core marketing medium.

You can read more about World Cup media trends by clicking here