NPAW: World Cup Delivers “Big Surge” for Streaming Services

Despite a somewhat slow start in terms of viewership numbers compared with the previous World Cup, Qatar 2022 has brought about a spike in usage for providers with streaming rights, according to NPAW.

The global streaming analytics firm looked at engagement data for a selection of its clients and reported a 290 percent increase in the average daily number of plays for the first week of the World Cup compared with the daily average for the 15 days before, with some individual streaming services experiencing an increase of plays of up to 570 percent during peak days when their countries’ teams played.

The average daily playtime for the first week of the tournament saw a similar surge—294 percent—when compared with the average for the previous 15 days, with individual services seeing an increase of up to 718 percent in daily playtime during peak days coinciding with matches of their national teams.

Both the average daily number of plays and the average playtime increased significantly throughout the week, with the average daily number of plays for Sunday, November 27, at 216 percent higher than that of the opening day and the average daily playtime seeing a 207 percent increase for the same period.