- Contents
28th June marked the last day of the Group matches. Tunisia and Senegal, the last African teams to play in the group stage, lost to Panama and Colombia respectively. According to BBC, Senegal became the first team in World Cup history to go out on the fair play rule after losing to Colombia. That was the end of the road for all the African teams at this year’s FIFA World Cup.
Through our audience measurement service which runs in six countries in Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda), we analyzed the TV viewership of all the matches where African teams were playing as well as other key matches played from 15th – 24th June.
Most & Least Watched Matches
Well done Nigeria ??⚽️? that was a tough match and Argentina ?? congratulations #WorldCup18 #NigeriaArgentina pic.twitter.com/0fGeezSJf1
— jules tata (@jules_tata) June 26, 2018
The matches that drew the most viewership among TV viewers in the 6 African countries were when Nigeria played against Iceland beating them 2:0. Rwanda TV ranked the top in audience share at 45% during the match between Nigeria Vs Iceland and in all the other matches.
In Ghana, 54% of the total TV audience watched the match between Egypt Vs Russia, the highest viewership in that period. The next most-watched match was Argentina Vs Croatia whose viewership drew 42% of all TV watching audience in the country. The least watched match at 21% of the Ghanaian TV viewing audience was when Spain played against Portugal.
In Kenya, the game between Argentina and Croatia had the highest share of all TV viewers at 48% followed in audience numbers by the Egypt vs Uruguay match with 43% of viewers. At 26% total viewership, Morocco vs Portugal was the least watched by Kenyan TV viewers.
In Nigeria, most TV viewers who were following the World Cup in 12 out of the 36 states from 15th – 24th June watched Nigeria vs Iceland game which had a 41% total audience share. The least watched match was when Morocco played against Portugal. The total audience share was 9%.
In Uganda, Nigeria vs Croatia match drew the highest TV audience share at 35% with only 12% of all TV viewers watching Germany vs Sweden game.
In Rwanda, the match with the highest total TV audience share was Morocco vs Portugal at 54%. The high share percentage may be attributed to the national broadcaster, Rwanda TV, acquiring the rights to screen all the matches hence the high viewership. The least watched game with only 29% tuning in was when Senegal played against Japan.
Finally, in Tanzania, most TV viewers watched Morocco vs Portugal which took 43% of all TV viewers in the country. The Senegal vs Poland game drew the least viewers at 24%.
Channels with the highest audience share
In Ghana, GTV had the highest audience share by channel of 25%. This was during the match between Egypt Vs Russia. NTV achieved the most audience shares in Kenya at 23%, 22%, and 21% during matches between Egypt Vs Uruguay, Arg Vs Croatia and Nigera Vs Croatia respectively.
SuperSport had the highest share of all TV viewers by channel in Nigeria and in Uganda. In Nigeria, SuperSport commanded 26% of all audience share, the highest among all channels showing the World Cup matches. The share percentage was in 12 of the 36 states. This was during the match between the Nigerian home team, the Super Eagles and Iceland. In Uganda, SuperSport attained the highest audience share in most of the matches played having its peak during the match between Nigeria and Croatia with 24% audience share.
Rwanda TV is ranked the top in audience share in all the matches during the group stage. Its peak of 45% share was during the match between Nigeria Vs Iceland. TBC1 in Tanzania achieved the highest audience share in most of the matches played with 28% leading during the match between Morocco Vs Portugal.
Knockout Stage
The last three weeks have had the most shocking moments for football fans world over. Germany, the defending World Cup champions were eliminated in group stage. As reported by The Guardian, the last time this happened was 80 years ago in 1938.
With all African teams out of the World Cup, it will be interesting to see how this will affect the TV viewership numbers across the continent.
GeoPoll has been and continues to collect media audience measurement data throughout the World Cup in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Rwanda. As we continue to share with you the viewership highlights, Contact us now to get these deeper insights into the World Cup viewership in Africa or to sign up for our exclusive World Cup offer!