Social media and mobile define the ways fans communicate with each other when watching the FIFA World Cup, according to research from the Internet Advertising Bureau and ESPN.
They’re working together to study viewing habits, mobile use, social media adoption and attitudes to sponsorship during the World Cup.
The joint research, undertaken before England’s defeat by Germany at the weekend, was conducted using a panel of 3,300 UK sports fans. It found 44% were likely to watch and share videos, while almost a quarter (24%) were likely to visit dedicated Facebook pages.
Other findings were that a quarter (26%) expect to watch weekday World Cup matches via the internet at work, while a third (33%) said they were more likely to watch games online in 2010 compared to 2006. When asked when they’d be most likely to comment on a World Cup website, 17% said they’d choose to before a game, 21% would afterwards and only 7% would during a game.
Meanwhile, 18% of men planned to listen to podcasts and 18% said they would be downloading World Cup apps to their mobiles.
Mobile has become increasingly important to fans, with 41% of respondents likely to text a friend before the match, 43% during and 45% afterwards. In addition, 27% said they were more likely to follow games on their mobiles in 2010 compared to 2006, and 8% were more likely to watch games on their mobiles.
Just over half (55%) of the panel said they were taking part in World Cup competitions online.
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