bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Andrew Barclay

This article originally appeared on ABACUS
China is a big fan of the World Cup -- with more than 4.3 billion individual views of Russia 2018 matches on just one streaming platform.
That figure -- announced on microblogging site Weibo by Migu Video, a subsidiary of state-owned telecommunication company China Mobile -- included 200 million views of the final between France of Croatia.
The other official streaming platform -- Youku -- announced that more than 180 million viewers had watched on its platform, with 24 million watching the final. The company didn’t break the figures down by individual views.
(Youku is owned by Alibaba. Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is also owned by Alibaba.)
Meet Vivo, the FIFA World Cup sponsor you’ve never heard of
But the real winner might not even be an official partner.
Tencent Sports -- an arm of the tech giant Tencent -- piggybacked off the event’s popularity and scored its own goal: 6.7 billion views of its World Cup-related short videos, reaching 770 million users.
And even though streaming and short-form video broke new records, plenty of viewers still tuned into the traditional broadcast on CCTV-5 -- the dedicated sports channel of state-run network CCTV.
56 million people -- the same number of people in all of South Africa -- watched the final, the highest audience for a sporting event since Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2008.

For more insights into China tech, sign up for our tech newsletters, subscribe to our Inside China Tech podcast, and download the comprehensive 2019 China Internet Report. Also roam China Tech City, an award-winning interactive digital map at our sister site Abacus.



China driver covers new luxury car with tarp to stop water leak, triggers copycat trend

Cash-conscious China couples host fast-food nuptials at McDonald’s and Haidilao hotpot chain

China ‘crying wedding’ custom sees women singing farewell laments for life they leave behind

‘Caring’ Taiwan KOL mother of 5 accused of beating and killing toddler under her care

Short video is the real winner as China’s World Cup viewers reach new heights

Streaming giants are cashing in on booming demand

Meet Vivo, the FIFA World Cup sponsor you’ve never heard of