Rabat – Qatar-based sports broadcaster BeIN Sports on Monday announced that it has hit a “record-breaking” viewership of more than 5.4 billion cumulative views throughout the Qatar World Cup on its BeIN Sports channel across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The World Cup final, which ended with Argentina clinching the tournament’s trophy after beating France, garnered a “staggering” 242.8 million views on BeIN Sports’ free-to-air channel, the media network indicated in a statement.
Viewership was notably high in Qatar where 93% of the adult population watched the final game. The host nation was followed by Morocco, with 91% of the North African country’s adult population watching the game.
In addition, the final World Cup match garnered a cumulative viewership of 25 million on BeIN Sports’ Youtube channel.
Meanwhile, Morocco and France’s semi-finals game, which ended with the elimination of the Atlas Lions, recorded 186.1 million views on BeIN Sports, noted the statement, adding that 99% of Morocco’s adult population watched the game.
The statement added that the total viewership of the World Cup matches across BeIN Sports’ 24-country coverage area across the MENA region has increased by 135% in comparison to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
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In addition, the average TV viewership per game witnessed a notable increase of 44.4 million views compared to the Russia World Cup coverage.
BeIN Sports, the exclusive broadcast rights holder of the Qatar World Cup, celebrated its record viewership during this year’s tournament, “the first held in the Middle East.”
“It’s incredibly special for us that the first World Cup in the Middle East has broken regional viewership records with more than 5.4 billion cumulative views across the month-long tournament,” said BeIN Sports CEO Mohammad Al-Subaie.
In addition, the sports channels group highlighted Morocco’s heroics at the tournament, saying that among the four participating Arab nations, the Atlas Lions “went the deepest, recording landmark victories over Spain and Portugal.”
