Soccer teams from playing countries may be on a prayer and practice now but it is the OTT (over-the-top) players who are strategising the most currently to put up their best games in the Qatar World Cup, with a whopping 1.1 billion users around the world projected to watch the games on streaming platforms.
Among the over billion users, the latest market research predicted as high as 300 million new users to watch the World Cup in Qatar on streaming platforms, keeping OTT players on their toes to garner maximum possible share of the fresh user lot.
The OTT players adding to the heat of the World Cup are understandable, considering the event’s potential to drive up advertisements and new subscriptions to help the industry to rake up huge revenues.
“This will be the first World Cup where OTT platforms and short-form platforms such as Instagram and TikTok will be the dominant forms in comparison to traditional TVs,” RedSeer Strategic Consultants, a leading global digital market consultancy, said in its latest market study.
“We expect 1.1 billion users to watch the World Cup on OTT, with 300 million of them being first time OTT users,” RedSeer said.
This will make the OTT segment walk away with more than 20 percent of the total five billion user engagements expected for the FIFA World Cup 2022 over television and various forms of digital media.
Industry sources said though different OTT players have already bought broadcast rights for the Qatar World Cup matches in various countries, other streaming platforms are expected to come up with various options for users to watch the games on their respective platforms.
Reliance-backed Viacom18, Fox and FS1 are among the ones which have bagged exclusive rights to broadcast the World Cup matches in their respective countries.
Some of the players such as Viacom18 are extending free viewership offer for the marquee global soccer competition – on play from November 20 through December 18 – on JioCinema, its digital platform in India.
Even the soccer body FIFA took a plunge this time around, launching its own streaming service in April 2022, debuting with six languages and adding four more in June.
“A global event such as the World Cup now is almost more democratic, with multiple industries benefiting from it – the OTT industry is no different,” Sandeep Gandiwalla, Dubai-based Partner at RedSeer Strategic Consultants, told Arabian Business.
Ganediwalla, however, cautioned that though he expected the OTT industry to grow on the back of the World Cup, the real challenge for the industry will be sustainability and retention after the World Cup.
“The industry will need to innovate to ensure that a material portion of the upside is sticky,” he said.
In recent years, especially during the pandemic period, OTT viewership has witnessed exponential growth around the world, with the current viewership estimated to be around two billion.
“Historically we have seen a surge in subscriptions during sporting events. A similar trend is expected during the FIFA World Cup, with about 300 million additional subscriptions driven during this mega football tournament,” RedSeer study said.
The study, however, said the major revenue opportunity for the industry is expected post-world cup, hence user retention would be the key.
“OTT user subscription growth builds up exponentially during major sports events and experiences a sudden drop post the event. OTT players must understand and address each phase with the right strategies to ensure audience retention,” RedSeer said.
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