How did FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 fare against 2018 version?

YouGov SportsIndex, which captures data on a variety of sports properties across several metrics, allows us to examine the brand perception and consumer performance of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar against its previous edition, which was held in Russia.

Data reveals that while the Qatar edition may have suffered from a slightly negative brand perception, that may not have kept fans away from tuning into the world’s most popular single-sport event.

The line chart above captures Buzz score data starting from a month before the commencement of each respective World Cup to the end date of each tournament.FIFA World Cup’s Buzz score is a net measure based on responses to two questions: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following sports properties have you heard something positive about?” and “Now which of the following sports properties have you heard something negative about?”. By calculating the difference between these two scores, we create our Buzz metric.

The analysis shows that the FIFA World Cup in Russia was generating a greater proportion of positive headlines and talking points both in lead up to and during the World Cup. Buzz scores for the 2018 edition 30 days out from the start date stood at -0.9 but rose sharply and continuously thereon to reach 39.5 on the final date of the tournament – 15^th July 2018. The Qatar edition actually went the other way during the lead up to the tournament. Scores slipped from -4.6 a month before the start date to -22.2 on the twelfth day of the event, amid headlines about Qatar’s human rights record. But from there, scores began to rise sharply, resting at -4.7 on the day of the final on December 18.

Impression scores logged a similar story. It plunged from 1.4 on October 20 this year to -22.9 on December 2, before bouncing back somewhat to -12.3 on December 18. A month out from the 2018 edition in Russia, scores stood at 4.8 rising steadily to 29.8 as of the France-Croatia final on July 15.

Did this hit to brand perception scores also impact viewership of the tournament? Not one bit, our Current Customer data shows. Current Customer scores reveal the share of consumers who say they have watched a sporting event in the past year. The Current Customer scores for the two FIFA World Cups capture responses of UK adults from the start date to the end date of the respective editions.

Over two-fifths of UK adults (43%) watched the Russia edition, and that share actually rose marginally for the Qatar event, with an average of 45% of them indicating so between kick-off (November 20) to the final (December 18).

What makes this more impressive is the fact that Premier League fans were upset about the World Cup interrupting the Premier League season.

These figures reflect a type of loyalty that is unique to strong sports properties. Consumers who are upset about other types of discretionary products or services might likely stop using them, even if only temporarily. But sports properties, especially those with long-standing fan-bases, can easily withstand brief declines in consumer perceptions.

Explore our living data – for free

Find more insights on the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2022 here

Discover more sports content here

Want to run your own research? Run a survey now 

Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 20 million+ members. Speak with us today.

Methodology: YouGov SportsIndex collects data on every major club. Buzz score is based on the questions: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following sports properties have you heard something positive about?” and “Now which of the following sports properties have you heard something negative about?” and delivered as a net score between –100 and +100. Scores for the 2018 FIFA World Cup are based on an average daily sample size of 1,621 UK adults May 14, 2018 – July 15, 2018. Scores for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are based on an average daily sample size of 1,117 UK adults October 20, 2022 – December 18, 2022.