As England edge past Mexico in a 3-2 thriller, Ozone’s audience platform data confirms readership in news brands hit tournament highs for two days in succession
Kickoff in Mexico City didn’t come until 2am on Monday, but the audience had been building for hours before it. Sunday brought 3.6 million users to digital news brands, a 22% increase day-on-day and 56% higher than pre-tournament levels. Meanwhile, page views rose 35% to 11.5 million.
Readership from 4pm to 7pm on Sunday ran 42% higher than the rest of the day, climbing to 67% higher between 8pm and midnight as fans waited out the hours before a game that wouldn’t kick off until the early morning.
On Monday itself, users shot up to almost five million — up 35% day on day and more than double pre-tournament levels. Page views hit almost 17 million, an uplift of 47% compared to Sunday. Overall, these figures broke daily records for this World Cup two days in a row.
Live blogs remained the format of choice for fans in preparation for the overnight kickoff, with pre-match live coverage among the weekend’s best-performing content.
Saturday’s build-up had already drawn strong numbers of its own, with the delayed kick-off and coverage of the storm warnings featured high on the weekend’s most-read lists. Interest wasn’t confined to the match itself either: Donald Trump’s lobbying of FIFA over Folarin Balogun’s red card — from the US’s tie against Belgium — was also among the weekend’s most-read football content.
When it came to Monday, readers flocked to match reports and celebrations of England’s ‘greatest victory’ since 1966, plus updates of Jordan Henderson’s condition following an injury sustained during post-match celebrations.
Meanwhile, last week was also the tournament’s biggest week for readership and page views: 10.7 million users (up 14% week-on-week), generating 59.8 million page views (up 13% on the previous week).
England now faces Norway in the quarter-finals on Saturday. Judging by how Sunday built before a ball was even kicked, this tournament’s audience is only getting more engaged as momentum grows.
Source: Ozone digital news brands
