The FIFA World Cup Qatar Tournament opened on November 20, 2022, and the Samurai Blue defeated powerhouses Germany and Spain to excite all of Japan.
In addition to the great success of the Japanese national team, what attracted attention throughout Japan was the free live broadcast of all 64 games on the Internet TV platform “ABEMA”. I wonder how many people watched it.
Mobile market research company “MMD Research Institute” (Minato-ku, Tokyo) announced on December 23, 2022 “FIFA World Cup Qatar viewing surveyAccording to , about half of the people who watched it on “TV”, while about 20% of people watched it on “ABEMA”.
Among men in their 20s, the result was evenly matched with “TV” at about 37% and “ABEMA” at about 32%. It is likely that the younger generation will say, “Maybe we don’t need TV anymore.”
Among men in their 20s, “TV” is 37%, and “ABEMA” is 32%.
The survey by MMD Research Institute targeted 10,000 men and women aged 18 to 69 nationwide.
First, we asked how they watched the Qatar World Cup matches and highlights (multiple answers allowed). As a result, “television” (NHK, commercial broadcasting) was the most common, at 49.1%, about half. This was followed by ABEMA at 17.8%, followed by sports video-on-demand service DAZN at 3.6%[Chart 1].
(Chart 1) How to watch the soccer World Cup? (Made by MMD Laboratory)
Looking at TV and ABEMA by gender and age group, the percentage of TV distribution is highest among men in their 60s (69.4%), followed by men in their 50s (60.5%) and men in their 40s (56.1%). However, ABEMA had the highest percentage of men in their 20s (31.6%), followed by men in their 30s (30.4%) and men in their 40s (28.3%)[Figure 2].
(Chart 2) How to watch the FIFA World Cup by gender and age (created by MMD Institute)
About 20% of men in their teens and 50s and about 30% of men in their 20s to 40s watched ABEMA. In particular, men in their 20s are close to TV (36.9%) and ABEMA (31.6%)[Chart 2 again].
What kind of devices did the people who watched the World Cup Qatar tournament on ABEMA use? Smartphones (56.8%) were the most popular. This was followed by “computer” (38.5%), “television (application, mirroring function, device connection, etc.)” (35.2%), and “tablet” (23.2%)[Chart 3]. I think it’s more powerful to see it on a big screen, but it seems that people have become accustomed to watching videos on their smartphones.
(Figure 3) ABEMA devices used to watch the soccer World Cup (created by MMD Research Institute)
When asked about their level of satisfaction with ABEMA, it was found that 89.2%, close to 90%, were satisfied, combining “satisfied” (55.8%) and “slightly satisfied” (33.4%).[Chart 4].
When asked why, the top answers were, “I can watch all the games for free,” “I liked the commentators,” “The footage was beautiful,” and “I was able to watch it in a stable communication environment.”
The survey was conducted online from December 5 to December 7, 2022, during the FIFA World Cup Qatar, targeting 10,000 men and women aged 18 to 69 nationwide. On December 6th, during the period, a match between Japan and Croatia (after a 1-1 draw, lost in a penalty shootout) was held. (Kazuo Fukuda)