今年世界杯的到来验证了传统电视直播体育的巨大吸引力。尽管现场直播体育赛事的吸引力众所周知，但今年美国的收视率表明，它的诱惑力足以吸引许多美国人放下生活中的一切来观看比赛。
在美国，大多数现场直播的体育赛事都是在传统的工作和上学时间之外播出的，与此相比，世界杯的大多数比赛都是在许多美国人不在状态的时间举行的。尽管如此，今年的世界杯比赛，尤其是有美国队参加的比赛，还是吸引了大量的美国电视观众。事实上，美国队今年参加的比赛中，有三场比赛是自 1994 年以来美国收视率最高的 10 场世界杯英语转播比赛。今年美国队与英格兰队的比赛，美国观众收看英语转播的人数接近 1550 万，是迄今为止美国收视率最高的男子世界杯比赛。
For context, consider the viewership associated with new fall TV programming—the primary driver of the annual advertising upfronts. This year, the four primary English broadcast networks1 attracted an average of 3.9 million viewers for primetime programming airing in the first month of the new fall TV season2. The audience grows to 5.5 million when we factor in time-shifted viewing over one week, but the aggregate viewership still pales in comparison to that of the World Cup matches featuring the U.S. Those four matches engaged an average of 12.2 million viewers across English telecasts.
The viewership of this year’s tournament is perhaps more notable when 尼尔森粉丝洞察 indicates that just 28% of U.S. respondents are interested in soccer. Overall, Americans remain most interested in the NFL, the Olympics, the NBA and MLB.
The appeal and interest in this year’s tournament has also withstood some intense competition. From an audience perspective, fall is when linear TV programming gets a boost, and this year was no exception, as sports viewing increased 222% in September as the new American football season kicked off. In October, sports viewing volume increased another 19%, just ahead of the start of the year’s World Cup, which is typically held in the summer.
By the time the tournament started, the matches that were broadcast on traditional cable began challenging other sports events for slots in Nielsen’s weekly top 10 listings. And over Thanksgiving weekend, possibly the biggest sports viewing period of the fall, survey respondents claimed the World Cup was their third choice for sports viewing, coming in behind NFL and college football. Yet perhaps more noteworthy is that the two matches listed in the top 10 cable listing for the week of Nov. 21-27, 2022, didn’t feature the U.S. men’s team:
- 410 万观众收看了阿根廷与墨西哥的比赛
- 360 万观众收看了西班牙与德国的比赛
Given the 90-minute matches, tuning in—especially midday—is a commitment. Most Americans acknowledge the need to balance their interest in the games with other aspects of their daily lives. While the majority of fans are keeping track of the action by watching highlights on TV, many are following on social media and hearing from others via word of mouth, including texting. And with 47% texting and 43%3 scrolling on social media, big moments in individual matches have attracted audiences who might not have already been tuned in.
Take the Group State match between Brazil and Serbia for example. Nielsen Gracenote had given Serbia a 32% chance of advancing, possibly limiting audience engagement for the Thanksgiving Day matchup with tournament-favorite Brazil. But when Brazil’s Richarlison de Andrade, known mononymously as Richarlison, made a dynamic scissor kick goal just before the 73-minute mark, viewership jumped 7% during the five minutes following the goal.
鉴于现场体育的广泛吸引力，赞助活动仍是品牌与新老粉丝互动的重要方式。虽然长期的成功取决于缩小认知与转化之间的差距，但体育产业中的赞助活动在转化粉丝方面的能力已经得到了提升。
For example, our 2022 annual sports report noted that during the pandemic, when we controlled for the impact of changing levels of brand awareness and sponsorship maturity, levels of purchase intent among exposed fans were higher than levels of brand familiarity. In addition, a recent Nielsen analysis of 100 sponsorships between 2020 and 2021 in seven markets across 20 industries found that the sponsorships drove an average 10% lift in purchase intent among the exposed fanbase.
在今年的世界杯期间，在我们的 "世界杯观看习惯调查 "中，近三分之二观看或打算观看世界杯比赛直播的观众表示，他们记得在观看比赛期间看到的广告。毫不奇怪，食品、零食和酒精饮料品牌受益最大，在观众中获得了最好的回忆。
The World Cup, like the Olympics, presents a unique opportunity for brands and agencies to attract audiences who might not otherwise be inspired to watch. With an average 4.7 million4 people watching the 2022 men’s World Cup live on cable and broadcast—higher than the average primetime programming we saw this year—advertisers would be wise to consider global tentpole sporting events in their marketing mix.
从足球的角度来看，她们不需要等待太久就能打进金球，因为 2023 年国际足联女子世界杯即将到来。其中的机会不言而喻；2015 年美国队和日本队之间的决赛是有史以来观看人数最多的世界杯比赛（男子和女子）。
说明
- ABC、CBS、NBC、FOX
- 2022 年 9 月 20 日至 10 月 17 日
- 尼尔森世界杯观看习惯调查，2022 年 11 月 27 日至 12 月 1 日
- 尼尔森全国电视小组
