While the fever for the Qatar 2022 World Cup heats up, with Korea advancing to the World Cup round of 16 for the first time in 12 years, MBC is in first place in the terrestrial TV ratings for the World Cup.
MBC announced in a press release on the 4th, 14th day of the World Cup, that it was “number one in the World Cup ratings for 14 consecutive days.” It is said that not only Korea’s big games, but also high ratings are held for World Cup games in other countries.
First, looking at the viewership ratings related to major matches in Korea, the MBC Qatar 2022 World Cup group stage match ‘Korea vs Portugal’ which was broadcast recorded the 2nd pure viewership rating of 24.8% (Nielsen Korea, ratings research agency , based on households in the metropolitan area), and MBC came first. The pure match viewership ratings are the aggregate viewership ratings from midnight, kick-off time, to the end of MBC’s broadcast.
In addition, the 2049 audience score, which is a major indicator in the advertising world, recorded 14.6%. MBC said, “Specifically, the number of viewers who watched the broadcast on MBC for at least one minute in this game exceeded 10 million, with 11.76 million viewers.”
Portugal match viewer ratings MBC 16%, SBS 11%, KBS 4%
According to Nielsen Korea, during the entire game time (23:23 on the 2nd – 1:59 the next day), MBC recorded the highest viewer rating with 16.9%, followed by SBS with 11.2% and KBS with 4.4%. The combined viewer ratings for the day were recorded at 32.5%.
Ghana matches MBC viewer rating 20%, SBS 12%, KBS 6%
MBC ratings were also the highest in the ratings for Ghana, Korea’s second match held on November 28th. The total number of viewers for the day was 39.1%.
According to Nielsen Korea, a ratings research company, on November 29th, viewership ratings by channel for the match between Korea and Ghana were broadcast by KBS 2TV, MBC TV and SBS TV from 8:33 pm on November 28 to 0:22 the next MBC TV was the highest with 20.0%, followed by SBS TV with 12.8% and KBS 2TV with 6.3%.
Before Uruguay, viewer ratings MBC 18%, SBS 15%, KBS 7%
The game against Uruguay, Korea’s first game in the World Cup held on November 24, recorded 41.7% of the total ratings of the three terrestrial broadcasters.
According to Nielsen Korea on November 25th, from 8:30 pm on November 24th to 0:14 pm the next day, the combined ratings of KBS 2TV, MBC TV, and SBS TV’s Korean-Uruguay show was 41.7%. By channel, MBC TV took 18.2%, SBS TV 15.8%, and KBS 2TV 7.7%.
The combination of commentator and caster seems to have influenced the World Cup ratings. For MBC, commentators Ahn Jung-hwan and Seo Hyung-wook and casters Kim Seong-joo, for SBS TV, commentators Park Ji-seong and Lee Seung-woo and caster Bae Seong-jae, and for KBS 2TV, commentators Koo Ja-cheol and Han Jun-hee and the caster Lee Gwang-yong.
Viewers respond well to MBC’s sports entertainment featuring Ahn Jung-hwan
MBC also attracts the attention of viewers with a program called ‘Ahn Jung-hwan’s Hidden Qatar’ with commentator Ahn Jung-hwan in the lead. Ahn Jung-hwan’s ‘Hidden Qatar’ is an entertainment program featuring Ahn Jung-hwan, caster Kim Seong-ju, and hidden fans Kim Yong-man and Jung Hyung-don, who will present local cheering enthusiasm in Qatar, to tell the liveliness of the World Cup site and even the hidden stories behind the changing seats. In this programme, viewers showed interest in the story of Ahn Jung-hwan predicting the game, with Son Heung-min following and showing ‘player direct cam’. The audience rating also recorded 6%.
Meanwhile, MBC is on the rise in news ratings as well as World Cup ratings. Although it appears to be behind KBS in terms of prime news viewership, it has steadily risen since last August, surpassing SBS prime news. It is analyzed that the number of viewers for MBC news is increasing as the conflict between the President’s office and the MBC news department became more apparent after President Yoon Seok-yeol’s trip to the United States in September.
[관련 기사: 윤석열 정부 출범 이후 6개월 MBC 시청률 상승세 심상찮다]
