Fifa World Cups have historically been a wonder drug for Indians, administered every four years to let us vicariously live the ecstasy and agony of being a national team’s football fan. There still are pockets where the fandom extends to steady loyalty across generations that mimic the patriotic fealty of people from competing nations (India has never been one), with particular affinity for eternal favourites like Brazil.
That scenario appears to be increasingly less so.
Fifa’s belated deal with a broadcaster, which ended an anxious wait for fans only weeks before the start of the World Cup on June 11, betrayed a sense of India as a low-priority market for both parties. Zee Entertainment’s acquisition of the tournament rights, including the 2030 edition and 39 Fifa events overall, fetched the governing body $30-35 million, far lower than its initial asking price of $100 million.
One of the reasons for it is the lack of competition and unwillingness among broadcasting firms to splurge on a sporting event not coinciding with primetime slots. Only 14 of the 104 games in a bigger format this time (with 48 competing teams as against 32) will be telecast before midnight in India, given the time difference with host nations Canada, Mexico, and the US.
With the Fifa deal, Zee has made a re-entry into sports broadcasting, otherwise a two-horse race between JioStar and Sony Sports Network. JioStar, a product of the Reliance and Disney merger, had made a bid of merely $20 million.
As FE has reported, the 2022 World Cup was deployed as a brand-building and customer acquisition exercise by Viacom18, which owned JioCinema and Sports18 channels at the time. As a new player then, it was prepared to lose the battle to win the war.
Recall the initial buffering glitches on the streaming app in 2022 and JioCinema’s apology to miffed fans. Over time, JioCinema didn’t just retain but also grew eyeballs as it scaled up with marquee media rights like the IPL (2023-27). Small wonder that Fifa faced a headache to cash in on the beautiful game in a country where the gentleman’s game rules. This, even when reports suggest a sharp dip in IPL’s traditional TV viewership this season.
India is not an exception, however. In neighbouring China, which too is a non-competing nation with a much larger viewership (it held 17.7% share of the global linear TV’s reach in 2022), Fifa faced a similar impasse. Three weeks ago, it signed a rights agreement with the state-controlled China Media Group for $60 million, a fraction of Fifa’s initial target of $250-300 million. Both India and China also witnessed plummeting linear TV reach in 2022, along with sharp growth in digital growth and consumption.
Over 22 editions, Fifa World Cups have remained a continental clash between South America and Europe with merely eight winning nations so far. India too may be languishing at a discreditable bottom half of the Fifa rankings, with its World Cup ambitions reduced to quadrennial discussions rather than a serious investment in a structural overhaul to tap its uncultivated talent pool.
Yet, it is also true that along with several Asian nations where football has grown in popularity, it comfortably occupies a second-favourite spot in India. According to a recent Nielsen survey, “The gap (between cricket and football) is narrowing among younger demographics who consume sports in a more global and digital way.”
Over the past couple of decades, a shift in India’s consumption has been driven by a growing fan culture with strong allegiances to elite European football clubs. In a flat, digital world, a Fifa World Cup no longer has the cachet that it held in 20th-century India — where die-hard fans only occasionally saw footballing demigods in action.
It’s not a question of time difference or how much time will it take for India to qualify for football’s most prestigious tournament. The game will continue to grow, and as will its viewership, in India despite Fifa.