The FIFA World Cup 2022 drew 110 million viewers on digital streaming in India with 32 million people watching the finals on December 18. With just about a month to go before Mexico and South Africa take to the field for the inaugural match of the 2026 edition, Indian football fans are faced with frustrating uncertainty — there is no announcement on an official broadcaster or digital streamer for the tournament in the country.
Experts say broadcaster apathy has as much to do with the time zone difference as it does with a larger shift in the manner in which broadcasters now value sports-related properties in general. They have moved from aggressive bidding to RoI-driven decisions, unimpressed by even a heavily discounted FIFA rights package — around 65% down from the initial $100 million deal value set for the Indian subcontinent.
When JioCinema signed the 2022 deal it was also about customer acquisition, says Karthik Yanamandra, founder, South Clan Football Academy. “No subscription. No paywall. Zero friction. In a country where price sensitivity around OTT is still very real, that single decision inflated the viewership figures in a way that does not reflect genuine commercial depth. The real question FIFA should have asked after 2022 is how many of those 110 million would have watched if it cost even Rs 99,” he says.
In any case, the merger that created JioStar since then has also eliminated the element of competition that saw rival networks bidding aggressively — often overlooking immediate returns on their investments — to secure rights to tentpole properties. Now the market has matured, say experts, and the fear of missing out has been replaced by financial discipline.
“FIFA seems to have got its math wrong here,” says Santosh N, managing partner, D and P Advisory. “In India, cricket dominates leading to a mismatch in the valuation.”
Playing to win
In the end, it’s also about the followership of the sport in India. Without India in the tournament, the World Cup here is essentially a neutral contest, and you are relying entirely on fans who follow the sport for its own sake — Messi fans, Premier League followers, football purists. That is a real audience, but it has a much lower commercial ceiling, say experts.
Another piece to this conflict is the dominance of cricket in the sports calendar this year. The FIFA World Cup will make up the second half of June and the first half of July. During this time, India has a tour of England where it is scheduled to play a five-match T20 series and a three-match ODI series, which ends on July 19.
The FIFA world cup concludes on the same day. Given that, the second half of the World Cup is likely to be overshadowed by the India-England series. Santosh believes since the FIFA world cup starts right after the Indian Premier League (IPL) ends, it might find pulling brand partnerships difficult. “Most of the brands would have exhausted their budgets by the time the football world cup starts,” he adds.
The format of the FIFA event this time around might also have affected overall interest, points out Prasanth Shanthakumaran, partner & head of sports sector, KPMG India. To increase the number of matches, FIFA has increased the number of competing teams to 48 from 32. This means that the initial leg of the tournament involving low ranking teams will not offer much excitement for the Indian audience. “Viewership will likely peak towards the knockout stages,” Shanthakumaran adds.
The day India qualifies for a World Cup, the entire conversation will change overnight. “That single qualification would do more for the commercial value of football broadcasting in India than a decade of league building,” Yanamandra sums up.