With the World Cup in touching distance fans will be crowding around TVs and devices cheering on the three lions.
Traditionally, both the World Cup and the Christmas period are profitable times for advertisers, but both events are so close together that it might mean difficulty reaching target audiences, something not helped by the cost-of-living crisis and squeezed customer spending.
BBC and ITV as per will be broadcasting all the matches free-to-air, with their services iPlayer and ITV Hub available for streaming viewership.
ITV plans to launch and showcase the World Cup on ITVX, an evolution of ITV Hub, offering an increased library and a decreased ad load enabled by solutions targeting specific customers.
Mathias Guile, VP Cloud Platform at content specialist Broadpeak, emphasised the importance of the services stating, “Streaming is going to enable many opportunities… it helps to deliver the event on any single screen of the planet, when broadcast was limited to the STB (set-top box) in the home.”
Companies may transition away from traditional forms of advertising as a mix of reduced budgets, fear of backlash from Qatar controversy and Apple blocking social media advertising cookies.
Instead, advertisers may opt for streamlined, personalised marketing such as ITV’s Planet V which allows campaigns to target specific customers meaning budgets are not wasted on viewers who aren’t the target audience.
In the US, NBC’s ad-supported streaming service Peacock will show the World Cup, a chance for their 15mn subscribers to experience it streamed live.
True, this is not the first time streaming services have involved themselves in live sports, with Sky Go, BT and Virgin Go offering a limited version of streaming channels.
But this could illuminate a trend in sports broadcasting and the direction of travel for advertisers
Guile said: “In terms of personalisation of the viewership experience, there will be a big plus.
"You can now have one stream per user, with dedicated and specialized content. You can target the viewer for his own advertisement. It is also possible to add overlay statistics opt-in by the viewer.”
The streaming of the World Cup could pave the way for specific sports streaming, with Amazon Prime appearing to integrate itself into showing sports, football teams are also setting up streaming services providing behind-the-scenes access and full match replays.
It may be some way to shift from live sports broadcasts to streaming-based sports content, but this World Cup may show both viewers and advertisers how successful it can be.
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