Close To 500,000 Watch First England Web Game
The rights holders behind the first ever England football match to be broadcast exclusively live on the internet have labelled the experiment a success, stating that ‘close to half a million’ subscribers watched the game.
International football agency Kentaro and media group Perform said they were delighted with the viewing numbers for the ‘pioneering broadcast’.
Fans paid to see the action online with UK cinemas also screening the game, which England lost 1-0 to Ukraine in a game that was halted for periods after flares were thrown on the pitch, although some supporters complained of a lack of atmosphere and slow streaming speeds.
Perform streamed the tie from Dnipropetrovsk while the BBC broadcast the game’s highlights on Saturday night.
With the payment to see the game online rising from £4.99 last week to £11.99 on Saturday, the number of subscriptions was estimated at between 250,000 and 300,000, but final viewing figures will not be released, according to the companies involved.
The viewing figure of under 500,000 also includes figures for the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), which screened the game free for troops, as well as those who watched it in cinemas and online.
A number of leading national newspapers and internet service providers also made the match available on their own websites. Partners included; The Sun, The Times, News of the World, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express, The Daily Star, The Independent, Virgin Media and Orange.
All websites offered a promotion where the user could watch the match for free if they opened an account with bet365.com, a leading online bookmaker.
Kentaro and Perform had initially stated that the broadcast would be available to a maximum of 1 million subscribers in order to maintain high quality broadband speeds for viewers.
Kentaro – an international agency appointed by the Ukrainian Football Federation – originally sold the UK rights for the game to Setanta.
But after the pay-TV firm collapsed, digital sport specialist Perform was appointed to stream the match online with the traditional broadcasters understood to be unwilling to pay the asking price.
The BBC was granted the highlights rights after last-minute negotiations, with part of the deal stipulating the announcement would be made after the completion of the match.
A joint statement by Kentaro and Perform said: ‘There were no technical issues and all customer enquiries were responded to within five minutes.’
Philipp Grothe, Kentaro chief executive, added: ‘Not only have we delivered Britain’s largest ever live pay-to-view internet sports audience but commercially the venture has proved itself as a viable model for future games.
‘Technology has ignited a revolution in people’s viewing habits and there is a new sports broadcast platform developing on the broadband enabled internet.’
The companies also pointed to a post match survey that found that an average of 87% felt the picture quality was satisfactory or better and 93% were satisfied with the customer support. In a positive sign for future events, 87% said the match offered value for money and 89% would purchase another live sports event online.
