beIN recorded more than 5.4 billion cumulative views throughout the month-long tournament on its flagship channel beIN SPORTS across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and 1.1 billion views on its official social media channels. It is hence marking a World Cup victory of its own by revealing record viewership figures for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The highly anticipated final match that ended with Argentina becoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 winners with a 4-2 victory on penalties against France, was watched by a staggering 242.8 million viewers on beIN Sports’ free-to-air channel.
This figure equates to 68%, more than two-thirds, of the MENA’s total adult population and, when analysed per country, results show viewership was particularly strong in Qatar where 93% of the adult population tuned in. In Morocco 91% of adults watched, followed by Lebanon (89%), Algeria (79%), and Egypt (72%). The final match, on its official YouTube channel, drew in a cumulative viewership of 25 million with viewership peaking at 4.44 million during the penalty shootouts.
The overall viewership across beIN’s 24-country coverage area across MENA for all matches is a 135% increase compared with the Qatar-based network’s broadcast of the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.
The final of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 attracted 88 million more viewers on beIN Sports than the final of FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. Average TV viewership per match throughout the tournament saw a significant rise in 2022 reaching 80.6 million, compared to that of 36.2 million for 2018’s coverage.
The semi-final decider between Argentina and Croatia,drew in 166.3 million viewers across the region. The semi-final figures represent an increase on the quarter-finals where 151.8 million viewers tuned into see Morocco’s Youssef En-Nesyri’s towering header eliminate a Portuguese team replete with global superstars including Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, and Ruben Dias.
beIN’s social media also posted record numbers with online video views reaching 1.1 billion compared to 121 million in 2018, and an even more impressive 5.5 billion impressions resulting in 400 million interactions (not including SnapChat), compared with 235 million impressions in 2018 that resulted in 40 million interactions.
As the Official Broadcast Partner, beIN SPORTS played a central role in showcasing the historic tournament. Offering audiences premium broadcast, analysis, and commentary of each game across its seven channels in four languages, beIN Sports’ viewing figures for the month-long tournament underlines the unprecedented appetite of football fans in the region for this historic first staging in the Arab World.
