RUSSIA 2018:USA and Chinese audiences grow, Brazilians hang on to witness late win

With hopes of progressing from the group stage in the balance, fans across the world tuned in to several crucial ties over Thursday, 21 and Friday, 22 June. Neutral fans in markets such as the United States and China also made the most of convenient kick-off times to follow perennial favourites Argentina and Brazil.
Match Day 8: France v. Peru, Denmark v. Australia, Argentina v. Croatia

• Argentina v. Croatia became the most-watched Spanish language live stream event in US history with 4.3 million video views and 68 million minutes of viewing (1.14 million digital viewer hours). NBC report that, up to and including 21 June, Telemundo’s digital coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ had been watched by 6.6 million unique users, generating 51.4 million livestreams and 725 million total minutes of viewing (or 12.1 million digital viewer hours). Source: NBC
• SBS report that 3.2 million people watched live coverage of Australia’s vital group stage match with Denmark, which kicked off at 22:00 local time. The broadcast delivered an average audience of 2.06 million and peaked at 2.49 million in the minutes following Australia’s equalising goal. Over 50% of Australians watching TV at the time (share) were tuned in to the broadcast, more than 17 times the average share for SBS. Source: SBS
• Live coverage of Denmark vs. Australia was broadcast at 14:00 local time, solely on TV2. The programme attracted an average audience of 0.94 million viewers, achieving a 16.9% rating, representing 87.4% of all Danish television viewers at the time. This market share exceeded the 77.5% recorded for TV2’s coverage of Denmark v. Peru the previous weekend Source: TV2

Match Day 9: Brazil v. Costa Rica, Nigeria v. Iceland, Serbia v. Switzerland

• Despite a 09:00 local kick-off time, live coverage of Brazil v. Costa Rica on Globo attracted an average audience of 55.87 million viewers, 27.6% of the potential audience and a hefty 82.4% share. This was the highest audience of the tournament so far in Brazil (ahead of Brazil v. Switzerland ­– 53.32 million viewers, 26.3% rating) and therefore becomes the most watched broadcast in Brazil since the current measurement panel was instituted in 2006. Viewing peaked at 61.78 million viewers in the closing stages as Brazil snatched an injury-time victory, nearly 7 million more than the peak for Brazil v. Switzerland (54.90 million).
• A further 2.17 million viewers watched pay-TV coverage of the match on SporTV - slightly lower than the audience for Brazil’s opening match on the same channel (2.22 million). This means that the combined audience across Globo and SporTV was 58.04 million viewers Source: Globo
• While CCTV-5’s live coverage Brazil v. Costa Rica attracted an average audience of 43.33 million viewers (only the second highest audience), the match ­– which aired in prime time (20:00 local time) ­– peaked at 62.83 million viewers: the highest of the tournament so far in China. 103.56 million viewers watched at least one minute of coverage, also the highest of the tournament thus far. Source: CCTV

Note: Unless specifically referenced, these figures are preliminary and do not include digital streaming or out-of-home viewing. FIFA’s final audience report, available after the competition, will include audiences from all markets across all match days.

Daily Media Update for 25 June

The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ is entering a crucial phase with teams defining their positions in the group stages in order to advance to the knockout rounds.
Here are the tie-break scenarios for rankings in the groups:

• ​Greatest number of points
• Goal difference in all group matches
• Goals scored in all group matches

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings shall be determined as follows:

• Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
• Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
• Greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned
• Greater number of points obtained regarding fair play conduct (yellow cards = -1, indirect red card (as a result of a second yellow card) = -3, direct red card = -4, yellow card and direct red = -5, with only one of the deductions applied to a player in a single game)
• Drawing of lots by FIFA

Find more information and examples here and on the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™  regulations (Article 32, Section 5).

Matches on 25 June
#33 Uruguay v. Russia, 18:00 (Samara)
#34 Saudi Arabia v. Egypt, 17:00 (Volgograd)
#35 IR Iran v. Portugal, 21:00 (Saransk)
#36 Spain v. Morocco, 20:00 (Kaliningrad)
All times local
Disciplinary Previews for matches 33 to 36.
Referee assignements for matches 37 to 40.
Media Channel TVSee matchday-1 press conferences in Moscow Luzhniki, Sochi, Saint Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don live on the Media Channel. Refer to the Media Channel TV for post-match press conferences with coaches and players.