There are only a few days left until the 2022 edition of the FIFA World Cup, which is to be held in Qatar for the first time. With the first whistle blowing on November 20, the tournament will start with the match between the host Qatar and Ecuador. The whole world will watch the struggle of 32 countries to be the best in the world. While the audience can’t wait to watch the matches from different screens, brands are making plans on how to capture their target audiences through certain channels.
Digital Turbine conducted World Cup Research to understand and analyse the behavior and preferences of viewers in Egypt during the World Cup, as well as how brands can interact with consumers, and the results once again demonstrate the unstoppable power of mobile.
While 59 per cent of the respondents stated that they will watch the World Cup on TV, the rate of those who say that they will follow the games on their smartphones is 51 per cent. Even though Egypt was unfortunately eliminated from the tournament, the audience is ready to experience the enthusiasm of global football. While 52 per cent of the respondents said that they will follow the tournament from their homes, 12 per cent report that they will follow the tournament live from stadiums in Qatar. In addition, 69 per cent of the respondents stated that they watch soccer broadcasts at least every week, proving once again that football is one of the most popular sports in Egypt.
We can say that the applications that we frequently use on our mobile devices are taking a different form in this period compared to the process we are in. While 73 per cent of the respondents stated that they spend more time on sports applications during the World Cup and similar tournaments, the majority of users say that they use sports applications before or after the match.
In terms of apps, 27 per cent of the participants state that they will spend most of their time on sports news apps while watching the World Cup, 25 per cent say they will spend more time on sports mobile game apps, 19 per cent on social media apps, and 18 per cent on messaging apps. In addition, it is one of the most important pieces of research that 91 per cent of users state that it is important to follow the World Cup from more than one device.
During such a large and global tournament, it is more important than ever for brands to capture their target audience. While 80 per cent of the respondents stated that they are likely to look up an ad that aired during the World Cup. 91 per cent stated that they would consider purchasing the product they saw in the advertisement. 38 per cent of them state that they can buy the product within 2-3 days after seeing the advertisement.
One of the most important issues that brands should pay attention to here is to meet the expectations of users from advertisements. 62 per cent of respondents think it’s important for ads they see during the World Cup to be funny, while 43 per cent think it is important to feature a famous person.
