October 20 – Brazilian broadcast giant TV Globo has lost exclusivity to the digital rights for the 2022 World Cup, with FIFA breaking out streaming rights and offering packages to Youtube, Facebook and TikTok.
Globo, reports Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, will continue showing the World Cup matches on free-to-air television and on its subscription sports channel, Sportv. However, it has exclusivity on its digital platforms – Globoplay (streaming) and its internet portals – which have broadcast live matches during the last three World Cups.
The TV giant has broadcast the global finals since 1970 when Brazil wrapped an enchanting three weeks of elite football with a 4-1 exhibition victory against Italy, but the broadcaster has reduced budgets due to the coronavirus pandemic and went to the Swiss courts to get FIFA to reduce the value of instalments it was paying on its TV deal for the upcoming World Cup rights.
Last year, Globo lost TV rights to the Copa Libertadores and Formula 1 with the broadcaster seeking to cut costs as the broadcast market in the country started to fragment.
With Globo losing its grip on the digital rights, FIFA can explore other streaming partners in Brazil in a bid to boost its media revenues in the country. FIFA have enlisted Rio de Janeiro agency LiveMode, founded by entrepreneurs Edgar Diniz and Sergio Lopes in 2017, as consultants. Livemode already works with FIFA on the sale of regional sponsorship packages for the 2022 World Cup in South America.
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