F.Y.I.

SBS reveals final audience numbers for 2018 FIFA World Cup

SBS has reported reach of 9.1m on television, 3.6m live video streams and 4.2m live audio streams for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The announcement:

Following a tournament packed with thrills and drama, the 2018 FIFA World Cup RussiaTM Final in Moscow lived up to what preceded it as Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus were victorious 4-2 over a tenacious Croatia in the closing match of the tournament.

The Final that saw France lift football’s most coveted trophy averaged 600,000 (498,000 Metro + 102,000 Reg) viewers with an impressive 5-City Metro share of 65.7% early on Monday morning. The action- packed match reached 882,000 (Metro + Reg) Australians, peaking at 732,000 viewers (Metro + Reg).

2018 saw SBS diversify its coverage of the FIFA World CupTM with the trusted football content SBS is renowned for presented across more platforms than ever before. SBS coverage featured trusted expert analysis and hosting by Lucy Zelić, Craig Foster, Craig Moore, David Zdrilić, David Basheer and

Sebastian Hassett, plus world exclusive commentary from celebrated ‘Voice of Football’ Martin Tyler on television and Clint Bolton, Kate Gill and Scott Jamieson on SBS Radio.

SBS Director of Sport, Ken Shipp said: “SBS has been the home of the World Cup for 32 years, and we’re incredibly proud to have delivered Australian audiences another month of elite football with expert analysis from SBS’s renowned team of on-air talent.

“Our expertise in broadcasting international sport of this calibre to Australians is unparalleled, and we’re pleased that audiences have responded so positively to our extensive multi-platform offering this year with an extraordinary 7.8 million live streams across digital and radio, and our coverage reaching a massive 9.1 million Australians on television.

“I must acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our team at SBS here in Australia and on the ground in Russia, including hosts Lucy Zelić and Craig Foster, in delivering four weeks of world class football coverage as part of what is arguably one of the great feats in sports broadcasting.”

In addition to over 200 hours of live television coverage, SBS Radio delivered its most multi-lingual coverage of the tournament ever on radio and through the 2018 FIFA World CupTM app, while The World Game online presented highlights of every match through the 2018 FIFA World CupTM website, the 2018 FIFA World CupTM app and across social on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat. SBS Radio also produced a daily edition The World Game podcast from Russia featuring SBS football experts.

TELEVISION
SBS’s television coverage of the 2018 FIFA World CupTM reached a total of 9.1 million Australians across 57 live matches, pre- and post-match analysis, match replays, FIFA World CupTM Today daily highlights show and supporting programming across the months of June and July on SBS and SBS VICELAND. #sbsaustralia

The most popular match on television was France v Australia, which saw the Socceroos defeated by the eventual tournament champions 2-1, on Saturday 16 June at 8pm which reached 3.4 million (Metro + Reg) Australians with an average of 2.2 million viewers (1.7 million Metro + 488,000 Reg) and a peak minute of 2.7 million (Metro + Reg).

RADIO

SBS Radio presented Australian audiences the world’s most multilingual coverage of the 2018 FIFA World CupTM, delivering over 4.2 million live audio streams across all 64 matches in 12 languages including Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Russian and Portuguese. Radio commentary of the Final on Monday morning was available to listen in five languages; Croatian, Arabic, French, Mandarin, and English. Three matches were available in four languages and 24 matches were available in three languages.

DIGITAL

SBS live streamed a total of 55 FIFA World CupTM matches through SBS On Demand, The World Game online, and the official 2018 FIFA World CupTM app. There were 3.6 million total live streams of matches across those platforms. The most popular match for streaming was the Denmark v Australia 1-1 draw on Thursday 21 June at 12midnight with 280,000 live streams.

On The World Game’s 2018 FIFA World CupTM website, a massive 4.2 million unique browsers drove over 38 million page views throughout the month of competition.

Through an innovative partnership with Twitter, SBS presented an exclusive live highlights show each match day, #WorldGameLIVE, hosted by Lucy Zelić and Craig Foster from the studio in Red Square. The live show was a rousing success with a total of 1.5 million views across 23 live shows on Twitter. Football fans could also watch matches from more angles than ever before through the 2018 FIFA World CupTM app and could totally immerse themselves in the action in real time with live matches available to view in the 2018 FIFA World CupTM VR app.

SBS CEO & Managing Director Michael Ebeid said: “The FIFA World CupTM is a wonderful example of the inclusive ability of sport to unite diverse communities and we’re thrilled that so many Australians tuned in to SBS’s trusted coverage of the 2018 tournament in Russia.

“The past four weeks have truly showcased SBS as Australia’s spiritual home of football and we are proud to have brought Australians the most comprehensive multiplatform coverage of any sporting event we’ve delivered to date across television, radio and digital platforms.” Football continues on SBS in the coming weeks and months with Chelsea in Perth live from 9pm AEST on Monday 23 July followed by the return of Premier League with Lucy Zelić and Craig Foster on August 11 as Newcastle take on Tottenham Hotspur from 9pm before the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Semi-Finals in August and the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup Semi-Finals in November.

Source: SBS

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