The “outsized” U.S. viewership for this year’s World Cup has made one thing clear: “there will be no more discounts” for the tournament’s media rights going forward, according to Noble, Wilhelm & Agini of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Fox paid $485M for English-language U.S. rights for this year’s World Cup. The “hydration breaks” alone are “expected to generate enough advertising revenue to offset much of that cost.” NBCU’s Telemundo reportedly paid $600M for the Spanish-language rights. In an era of media fragmentation, the ability to secure a mass audience “commands a hefty price tag.” The tournament “fits Netflix’s preference for events rather than expensive, full-season packages” -- and it already holds the U.S. and Canada rights to the 2027 and 2031 women’s World Cups. Amazon and Apple “could also enter the battle.” While a bidding war between streamers “would drive up the price further,” the ultimate value of the U.S. rights “remains difficult to project.” Viewership is “undoubtedly benefiting from matches held in North American time zones,” but that advantage “will fade.” The 2030 World Cup will be jointly hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain -- collectively five or six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time -- while the 2034 tournament moves even further east to Saudi Arabia. World Cup rights “could also hit the market at the same time as the NFL’s” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/11).
VIEWERSHIP BENEFITS: The Belgium-U.S. match in the Round of 16 finished with 46 million viewers across Fox and Telemundo, marking the most-watched soccer telecast ever in the U.S., and just ahead of 44.9 million for England-Mexico in the Round fo 16 (Austin Karp, SBJ). In Boston, Chad Finn wrote the “joy and entertainment that the World Cup has delivered in a broad way has been reflected in staggering viewership numbers for its broadcast partners.” The audience for the USMNT’s 4-1 loss to Belgium got “into NFL playoff viewership territory.” It “helps greatly” that this World Cup is in the U.S., particularly in terms of start times. The 2022 final between France and Argentina in Qatar, which started at 10am ET, averaged 26.7 million viewers in English and Spanish. The 2018 World Cup in Russia -- for which the Americans did not qualify -- “offered starker numbers,” with the final between France and Croatia averaging 18.5 million viewers in the U.S. on Fox and Telemundo (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/11).
