GeoPoll is pleased to release our latest report, which examines viewer engagement and habits throughout the 2018 World Cup in Africa. The report is the second and final release of a two-part series on the 2018 World Cup by GeoPoll. The free, 26-page document examines device usage, viewing habits, and betting on matches in Africa during the tournament. The report includes in-depth data on viewers of the 2018 World Cup in 6 African countries: Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda, and Tanzania, and additional insights from a custom survey ran in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Social Media and Streaming During the World Cup in Africa

Since the 2014 World Cup, technology advances have changed the way Africans can engage with football programming. The impact of Over The Top (OTT) technology, such as video streaming via smartphones, was felt in Africa in this year’s World Cup due to the ability for viewers to watch on-the-go. Our study found that the mobile phone was the second most used device to follow matches after TV, with 29% of respondents saying they used mobile phones to follow the recent World Cup matches.

In addition to the devices used to watch World Cup matches, GeoPoll’s study also looked to gauge levels of engagement with the World Cup on social media and the Internet. GeoPoll’s study found that in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, social media was the 2^nd most popular source of news and information about the tournament after TV, with 40% of respondents indicating TV as their major source of World Cup information and 31% saying social media was their main source for following the World Cup.

Despite the growing usage of online streams and alternative sources to follow the World Cup, GeoPoll found that in Africa, TV was still the most used source to watch World Cup matches. This report expands upon previous findings regarding audience share during the championship match, as well as ranking of the top channels across 6 markets for the finals and third-place game.

Gambling in Africa During the World Cup

In terms of sports betting during the tournament, youth were highly engaged with sports betting throughout the tournament. From our survey in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, GeoPoll found that Kenya led in percentage of respondents who have engaged in sports betting prior to the World Cup, with 80% of respondents having engaged in gambling around sports events prior to the World Cup, while Nigeria and Ghana tied at 55%. Our study also found differences in gambling habits related to gender, age, and lifestyle. Additional findings surround frequency of betting, amount spent, sources of betting funds, betting location, and devices used to place bets.

The full World Cup Insights report also includes statistics and insights on device usage, live streaming, gambling, brand and sponsor recall, and more surrounding the 2018 World Cup tournament. Get your copy of the free, 26-page report here: 2018 World Cup Insights, Device Usage, Viewing Habits, & Betting in Africa.

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Across all 5 nations, the first semifinal was viewed by 22.5 million, while the second was viewed by 18.4 million. The difference was especially pronounced in Kenya, where 3.7 million watched the Brazil-Germany match, and only 2.0 million watched Netherlands-Argentina. 3.7 million represents about 8% of the total Kenyan population, and 17.8% of Kenyan adults who are regular media consumers. 

Below is a graph taken from our Audience Measurement Service, which shows viewership numbers in Kenya. KBC, not normally a popular prime-time channel, is the only channel airing games in Kenya, and as you can see, the peaks are dramatic. The full semifinal numbers, broken down by country, are below.

We have also been asking users in 10 African nations who they think will win the World Cup every day, which enables us to see a wider view of African perceptions of the games. The below shows how perceptions have changed over time: most notably, until Brazil’s semifinal defeat over 30% of respondents indicated they believed Brazil would win. Africans also had a higher perception of the Netherlands than Argentina, although ever since Germany showed their strength in the first game against Ghana, Germany has also been a popular choice to win the entire World Cup. 

Semifinal viewership numbers: 

Germany-Brazil 
Total: 22,455,000
Ghana: 2,435,000
Kenya: 3,725,000
Nigeria: 12,037,000
Tanzania: 3,331,000
Uganda: 927,000

Argentina-Netherlands:
Total: 18,431,000
Ghana: 2,525,000
Kenya: 2,016,000
Nigeria: 10,501,000
Tanzania: 2,621,000
Uganda: 956,000

Want to sign up for a trial of our Audience Measurement Service and have access to the numbers presented here and interactive dashboard? 

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It is no surprise that World Cup viewers polled in these five countries were most tuned in during games involving African nations, in particular Nigeria. When this West African team played, between 15 million and 25.1 million viewers were tuned in, with the highest viewership occurring during the first Nigeria game played, against Iran. The second most watched game also involved an African team, Ghana, when 24.5 million tuned in across the 5 countries to watch their loss to Germany.

Although Africans were most tuned in for home teams, GeoPoll’s data demonstrates the popularity of several international teams, especially now that all African nations have been eliminated. Germany has had high viewership throughout, partly due to their strong standing in the tournament, and because they played two African teams: Ghana and Algeria. German games have drawn between 14.8 and 24.5 million adult viewers in Africa, for an average viewership of 20.5 million through the Round of 16.  By comparison, the USA only had an average of 14.6 million viewers across their games. Brazil has also been a popular team to watch: 24.9 million tuned in to their match against Chile.

Gender trends in African viewership

In general, we have found that more males are watching the games than females. Across all games and countries through the Round of 16, the gender split has been 67% male to 33% female. Female viewership has not exceeded a total of 10.5 million across all 5 countries, and no games had more female than male viewers, but we have seen some interesting patterns when examining what games females are most likely to watch.  While males have consistently tuned in to games, females have tuned in most to games involving African teams. The four games with the highest female viewership numbers all involved African teams, and the highest female viewed game was Germany-Ghana, which drew 14.3 million males and 10.3 million females.  Below is a chart showing the male/female breakdown from June 20th to June 30th. Click here for more gender details. 

America’s interest in soccer compared to Africa

Americans are slowly developing a love for football, or soccer, as it is known in the states. This World Cup has experienced record-breaking viewership numbers in the US. ESPN reported 16.9 million Americans watched the USA- Belgium game in the Round of 16, and even more tuned in for the USA-Portugal game: 18.2 million American’s saw USA tie the game 2-2. This has been reported as the most non-football viewed ESPN telecast, which is quite an achievement for soccer in the US.

However, similarly to African viewers showing loyalty to their own nations, this record-breaking viewership has been most prominent for US games. Although the Brazil-Chile game was the highest rated non-US World Cup game ever recorded, it only drew 6.1 million US viewers. That’s just under 2% of the total US population. By comparison, about 7.7% of the total combined populations of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania tuned in according to GeoPoll’s numbers, which do not measure children. American love for the sport is growing, but does not compare to the passion these African nations have demonstrated for the World Cup.

As the final games are played, we will continue to measure viewership numbers, gender breakdowns, and more. So far, audience sizes have been impressive, and with only a few games left we imagine they will stay high. Although Africans have been loyal to their home teams, this quadrennial event has shown impressive audience sizes throughout, and with only a few games left we imagine they will remain high.  Stay tuned for semi-final and final viewership numbers, and a summary of World Cup viewing once it’s all over!

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3 million Ghanaian viewers tuned in to see their loss on Thursday, down from the 3.7 million who watched the crucial Ghana-Germany game. Since then, viewership of World Cup matches in Ghana has gone down, although audience size during World Cup games remains higher than average. So far, at most 2.1 million have tuned in to the Round of 16 games in Ghana.  Below you can see Ghanaian viewership over time.  As demonstrated, Ghana viewership has gone down as the World Cup has progressed, with notable exceptions during Ghana’s own matches. 

We have also measured viewership across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania, and over the past few days of play found that the Nigeria-France and Brazil-Chile games have been most popular. 23.7 million adults across the 5 countries watched Nigeria lose to France, and even more watched the Brazil-Chile game on Saturday: 24.9 million tuned in to that match.  On Sunday, the most popular match was Netherlands-Mexico, which drew 20.1 million.  We will release more in-depth insights on the most popular teams and matches in the next few days, and make sure to keep following us on twitter @GeoPoll for daily viewership updates! 

To get daily access to this data, sign up for a trial of our Audience Measurement Service:

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As shown in the chart below, two teams have begun to stand out from the crowd in terms of their perceived chances of winning the World Cup. From the beginning, our survey respondents across Africa thought Brazil was likely to win, but as demonstrated below, Germany also became a popular answer after they won their game against Portugal decisively on the 16th of June: on the 17th, many more respondents chose Germany as their tournament winner.  Respondents lost some confidence in Brazil after their 0-0 tie with Mexico on the 17th, but regained it after their 4-1 win against Cameroon.

Another interesting finding shows that, while 18% of users across Africa said they thought Ghana would win on the first day of matches, that number quickly went down. With the Rroup of 16 teams now decided, we will be even more curious to see what results show during the next round of play! 

Interested in conducting a survey like this one? 

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The Ghana-Germany game aired at 7pm Ghana time on Saturday, and was viewed by over 3.7 million adult Ghanaians, a significant increase from the first game, viewed by 2.4 million adult Ghanaians.  This also made the Ghana-Germany game the most watched game in Ghana up until now, and the most viewed event in Ghana since GeoPoll started tracking TV viewership in April.

Other countries in Africa were also gripped by the Ghana-Germany game: in total, over 24.5 Million adults from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania watched the game, making it the second most popular game in those countries overall, behind only the opening Nigeria game.

In Nigeria, 15 million adults watched the Ghana-Germany, game, while only 10.6 million remained to watch Nigeria play Bosnia & Herzegovina. Viewership declined across all countries after the Ghana game ended on Saturday: in total 15 million watched the first half hour of the Nigeria game, down over 9 million from the peak Ghana game viewership. 

Overall, GeoPoll’s viewership numbers for the first round of games has confirmed the popularity of soccer across Africa. In the 5 countries surveyed viewership for the World Cup has been high, no matter what teams are playing. The earliest games have had particularly high viewership even when African teams were not playing: since the start of the World Cup, at least 17.5 million adults across Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria have watched part of the first game played each day.  This is likely because later games go well into the night; in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya the final match of each day (up until this week when games are played concurrently) has not started until 1am local time. 

Below are some more stats on the percentage of total adult TV viewers who watched the Ghana-Germany match in each country.  GeoPoll determines the number of adult TV viewers by asking GeoPoll members age 15+ if they have watched television in the past 30 days before adding them to our Audience Measurement panel.  In Nigeria, for example, out of an estimated total adult population of 100.6 million, GeoPoll has determined that 73.4 million are TV viewers. 

For insights on television ratings, channel share, and audience demographics, click below:

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The below findings are compiled from 10 countries: Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. Overall, 36% of respondents think Brazil will win, followed by Germany at 11%.  Only 7% and 8% thought Ghana and Nigeria will win, respectively. 

Looking to conduct your own custom surveys? 

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Today we released initial findings on TV ratings, audience size and demographics following the first games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The data, gathered via mobile surveys in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, provides a first-ever glimpse of the fans who are tuning into the World Cup in these countries. Below is a breakdown of our most interesting findings, and read the full press release here.

Nigeria v. Iran game watched by millions – The game between Nigeria and Iran, played during prime time in Nigeria, drew 17.5 million Nigerian adult viewers or 20% of the Nigerian adult population. More than 25 million adults from all the surveyed African nations watched the Nigeria game, making it the most watched game in these markets over the first 5 days of play.

Ghana’s World Cup viewership stays high across games – Ghana viewership has remained high across all games: 3.5 million watched the opening game between Brazil and Croatia, and the gripping match between Ghana and the United States on Monday attracted 2.4 million adult Ghanaian viewers. The U.S./Ghana game aired at 10pm Ghana time, which might explain the drop in viewership numbers in the country, compared to the earlier Monday games which saw 3.1 million Ghanaian viewers. On average across the first 5 days of games, 2.2 million Ghanaians have tuned in to every hour of play.  

Strong enthusiasm for soccer across African countries – At peak viewership, during the Nigeria/Iran game, about 15% of adults aged 15+, or 25 million total across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, were watching the games.  Nigeria had the highest total viewership numbers, with 17.5 million. Both Nigeria and Ghana have had consistently high percentages of their adult population watching the games: an average of 14% per game for Ghana and 10% per game for Nigeria.

Youths have been particularly interested in the games – In Ghana 1.7 million people aged 15-24 tuned in to the Germany-Portugal game, or about 18% of the youth population. In Kenya almost 900,000 aged 15-24 watched the same game, and in Nigeria 3.5 million youths were watching.

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Below we’ve presented two different measures- the size of the audience watching in each country, and what percentage of the total population that represents, and the audience share.  Audience share shows the percentage of people currently watching TV who were watching the World Cup: if 100 people in Ghana were watching TV and 50 were tuned into the World Cup, the share is 50%. 

We found that the largest amount of viewers were watching in Ghana: 3.5million, or almost 14% of the total population. In Nigeria, which has a much larger population, 10.25million were watching, or about 6% of the population. See more statistics below. 

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