New Asia deals as Women’s World Cup kicks off
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Editor
| 24 July 2023
Following the completion of several deals in Asia just before the big kick off of the tournament, world football governing body FIFA has revealed that its global network of broadcast partners for the biggest ever Women’s World Cup has got off to a strong start on screen.
FIFA Womens World Cup 23July2023
FIFA recently-completed free-to-air deals in Japan with NHK and China PR with CCTV. Before kick-off in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand on Thursday, sales were also concluded in Central Asia (Saran), Chinese Taipei (ELTA), Hong Kong (PCCW), the Maldives (Medianet), Mongolia (Content Distribution LLC) and the Philippines (Cignal TV).

The tournament which commenced with record-breaking attendances in host countries Australia and New Zealand on 20 July is being shown in over 200 territories, through 130 broadcasters and FIFA’s own platform FIFA+ in the remaining markets. At least 70 of the broadcasters will be present during the competition in the two host territories.

In what it said was a strategy to accelerate the commercial growth of the women's game, FIFA decided to sell the media rights on a standalone basis wherever possible, resulting in enhanced revenues from a range of media partners new and old. However, this also led to a number of very late rights sales, such as those for the UK.

FIFA is also using its FIFA+ platform show the entire competition live in certain territories including Japan, Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand. It has also concluded a first-ever social media deal with TikTok for tailored social media content including behind-the-scenes moments.

“We are delighted with the final sales result, which will ensure the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 is one of the greatest sporting events ever and will be viewed in every corner of the world," said FIFA's chief business officer Romy Gai.

"We saw from the tournament in France in 2019 that women's football presented a huge opportunity, which is why we took the decision to sell the rights for 2023 on a standalone basis. That decision has now been fully justified. We are especially happy that the tournament is widely available on free-to-air which gives us the chance to attract new audiences for women's football. The revenues from the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 will be entirely reinvested in women's football, helping it to develop still further in the future."

Showing the instant popularity of the event, the 21 July game between the US and Vietnam match averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1 million viewers across Telemundo, Peacock, Universo and Telemundo streaming platforms, making it the most watched Women’s World Cup Group Stage match in Spanish-language history and third largest ever regardless of stage only behind the 2019 and 2015 Finals. The USA Team opener doubled the opening match v. Thailand in 2019 and had the highest Average Minute Audience on digital with 152,000 viewers to become the most streamed Women’s World Cup match in Spanish-Language history. Telemundo is the exclusive Spanish-language media rights holder to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in the US.