The World Cup kicks off today, but CBC already seems like a winner with its huge broadcast inventory almost sold out.
The network plans more than 1,000 combined hours of coverage in both English and French of the world’s largest sport’s tournament. Live streaming of matches on CBCSports.ca will allow devotees to watch individual players and even see the game from an end zone camera.
“This will allow viewers to consume the World Cup in a way they have never been able to see it before,” said Trevor Pilling, CBC’s executive producer of World Cup coverage.
All 64 games in the month-long tournament will be shown in high definition. Of those, 56 will be broadcast live on the main network.
On days when there are two matches on at the same time, one will be seen on the main network while the other can be viewed on CBC’s digital channel Bold HD.
The game shown on Bold will be replayed on the main network later in the day. There also will be replays of the match of the day.
Having all the World Cup games available on the web means some fans can play hooky from work without leaving their desks.
“If I was an employer in Canada, and I employed a bunch of soccer fans, I would be concerned,” Pilling joked.
Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports and GM of media sales and marketing, said the network is ahead of its revenue plans for World Cup advertising sales, close to a sell-out position in the playoff rounds and in a better-than-expected level of sales in all other games.
“Online sales are probably the most robust, making up almost 15% of total sales, which is pretty spectacular,” said Moore. “We’re beyond our targets in all sales for World Cup but, on a percentage basis, we’re much further ahead on digital sales. If we’re not sold out on digital, we’re 98% sold out.”
Official FIFA partners are offered first rights on advertising opportunities with contracted broadcasters worldwide. This year’s primary sponsors include Adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates, Hyundai/Kia, Sony and Visa. In Canada, Coke, Adidas have signed on, while Hyundai/Kia opted out.
The CBC has signed on General Motors as its exclusive automotive advertiser. Labatt is also onboard, as a result of Budweiser being the official beer of the World Cup, but is not exclusive so Molson and a few other breweries have joined the World Cup party. In the case of financial institutions, South Africa Bank holds the FIFA-mandated first rights, but logically passed on the Canadian broadcast rights, opening the door for CIBC to step up for one of its first major sports sponsorship.
CBC’s Bold currently has just over one million subscribers. Those numbers could increase with the World Cup. The network has also added an hour-long post-game show to its Bold line-up, the first half-hour of which will air on the main network. “We’ve added it because of audience demand but also because of advertiser demand for more inventory,” said Moore. “The new show will be hosted by the newest member of our sports team Nabil Karim (formerly of Fox Soccer), joined by Dick Howard and a revolving door of some of our other analysts.”
The CBC will also be offering a few games in 3D, a network first. Moore said talks with Rogers make it 98% sure that between two to four games near the end of the tournament will be available in 3D, and talks with more providers are ongoing.
“CBC doesn’t have a 3D channel, so for us to provide that content the cable companies had to have a channel for us,” said Moore. “They had an interest in presenting that so we’re finalizing talks. As a public broadcaster, we didn’t think it was a wise use of public funds to provide 3D to the very small sector of viewers who might have 3D TVs, but certainly the cable companies have an interest in promoting it and have worked with us to make sure the costs are covered for getting 3D production in Canada.”
