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Americans may never obsess about soccer the way the rest of the world does, but this year’s World Cup has been drawing record audiences.
The USA-Belgium match got 42 million viewers if you throw in the 12 million who watched in Spanish on Telemundo and Peacock.
That is about one-third the number that watched the Super Bowl, but twice the number that tuned into the NBA playoffs.
Which is not nothing.
It is, in fact, over two and a half times the audience for the USA - Netherlands match in Qatar in 2022.
Which, even if you factor in that the World Cup is being played in the US this year, is pretty impressive.
Why It Matters
For the past decade or so the world has been wondering when soccer will go big time in the US.
Or at least that part of the world that tracks the television industry.
The theory has been that at some point all those kids who grew up playing youth soccer are going to start tuning in and joining their peers globally.
So it’s noteworthy that the World Cup in general and the game featuring the US team in particular made such a big splash this year.
The fact that we are hosting it obviously played a factor. If nothing else, there’s the time zone thing.
There have also been so many stories about the fans (the Norwegian rowers) and their positive reactions to suburban America, the air conditioning in particular.
But mostly it is another reminder that sports are pretty much the only way to get large groups of people in the same place at the same time and so advertisers—big national advertisers in particular—are going to happily pay big bucks to reach them.
To the tune, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, of $1MM.
It’s why there are reports that the next round of World Cup rights will go for even more money—a cool billion seems to be the base price—and potential bidders are said to include Netflix, Disney, YouTube, Amazon and Apple, as well as Fox and NBCU. This is all speculation of course, but I’d be surprised if all of those companies are not already thinking about it.
FIFA has gone out of its way to make the game more advertiser friendly (water breaks) and the timing works as baseball is the only major US sport that’s happening now and we’re still pretty far from the playoffs, so fans can focus.
Meaning that one billion may be a lowball figure, especially if the deep pocketed streamers get involved.
What You Need To Do About It
If you are Fox, Peacock and Telemundo, well done. You saw the value in these games, paid for them in advance and you are now reaping the rewards.
If you are FIFA, don’t mind the snark about water breaks. Americans are used to lots of ads in sports. It lets us get snacks from the kitchen and check our phones without missing anything. Keep it up.
If you are thinking of bidding for the 2030 World Cup, think of how much more fragmentation the next four years will bring and how much advertisers will pay to reach mass audiences. Especially mass audiences that are likely to be even more mass. And include hard-to-reach younger viewers.
There are caveats: the games will be in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, a five-to-eight hour time difference from the US.
And they may not have the same appeal if they’re not being played here.
But I’m thinking they will, that American audiences are looking for something that feels big and international and provides the elusive common cultural touchpoint.
Meaning they will be even bigger in 2030.
So open up those pocketbooks and search the couches for loose change.
It will be worth it.
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