• by Wayne Friedman , 3 hours ago

After the first seven days of FIFA World Cup action, through 24 matches, viewership is now more than double the total for the 2022 event in Qatar.

Viewing for the event is now up 116%, averaging 5.7 million average minute viewers on Fox Television Network, FS1 and Tubi, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel and Adobe Analytics. 

Through sixteen games so far on Telemundo, Peacock, and Telemundo digital platforms, these matches with Spanish-language commentators have averaged 5.3 million. The highest-rated match so far was Mexico-South Africa, with 10.1 million viewers.

Telemundo did not disclose comparisons to the previous 2022 World Cup event.

The most-viewed match so far -- with the U.S. facing off against Australia, on Friday -- came in at 20.7 million overall viewers.

Fox platforms totaled 14.8 million viewers, with Telemundo/Peacock platforms at 5.9 million.

John C. Hodulik, media analyst at UBS, projects Fox Corp. will see overall advertising revenues rise 39% in the current quarter -- largely driven by the World Cup. Without the World Cup, he estimates 7% growth for the company.

A year ago, Fox Corp. made $1.08 billion in advertising revenue from all its platforms for its fiscal fourth-quarter period.

One report now says the new "hydration breaks" -- with one three-minute break in the action for each 45-minute half --  see pricing for a 30-second commercial spot averaging $200,000 to $750,000. 

The higher price comes when high-profile teams such as the U.S. team are playing.

This could result in a new source of advertising revenues -- resulting in tens of millions of dollars -- which could see projections that Fox could benefit overall from the event (104 matches) by between $200 million and $400 million.