With over 47 million viewers, the FIFA Under-17 World Cup that concluded on 28 October garnered the highest viewership among international football tournaments aired in India.
The BARC ratings show that Sony Pictures Network’s (SPN) coverage of the FIFA event rated better than the high-profile international football sporting events like FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, English Premier League 2016-17, and La Liga 2016-2017 seasons, among others.
The Hindi and Bengali language feeds contributed to around 40 percent of the overall viewership that the 22-day long tournament got. The finals between England and Spain in Kolkata’s Salt Lake stadium, that witnessed a packed house of almost 67,000 fans, generated nation-wide interest, scoring an average 2.2 million impressions.
Overall, the tournament has rated better than any international football sporting event broadcasted in India.
A majority of the viewership has come from regions like West Bengal, Kerala, and North East, while the fans in the metros also lapped up the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the first-ever FIFA U-17 World Cup held in India.
The viewership demographics have also showcased that almost 45 percent women tuned in to watch the sporting event.
Major reasons behind the astounding success of the FIFA U-17 World Cup coverage has been the performance of India’s Boys in Blue, who put up a respectable fight against their rival teams, which ranked much higher than them.
In fact, India’s game against Colombia where midfielder Jeakson Singh scored India’s first-ever goal in a FIFA tournament after he netted a corner, registered an average of 2.6 million impressions per game.
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