World Cup In Numbers: Digital Stats For The Greatest Show On Earth

Here’s how the 2010 World Cup in South Africa plays out by the numbers online…

Five million UK adults will watch matches online at home (source: Starcom MediaVest).

— 2.6 million will watch at work (source: Starcom MediaVest).

— Seven percent of UK people expect to watch a live or catch-up game online (source: PwC).

1 in every 150 UK searches is for World Cup (source: Hitwise, week ending June 5).

— UK weekly visits to sports sites are up 11.5 percent, to highest rate since April’s Grand National (source: Hitwise, week ending June 5).

Most searched-for footballer: Rio Ferdinand in UK, Cristiano Ronaldo in France, USA, Brazil, Australia, NZ (source: Hitwise, week ending June 5).

— 25 matches will be shown in 3D, including on ESPN (NYSE: DIS) in the U.S.

— Tournament will add 1 to 2 percent to UK and French TV ad sales ($30 to $70 million) (source: Screen Digest).

LCD TV searches jumped 371 percent from May to June (source: Twenga).

— World Cup 2014: 15 percent of global viewing could be via VOD (source: PwC).

Biggest marketing buzz: Nike, with 30.2 percent of blog, forum and social network mentions, ahead of Adidas (14.4 percent), despite not being an official sponsor (source: Nielsen).

Biggest fans: Spanish (source: Facebook’s “passion index“).

— At the 2006 World Cup, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Sports’ usual U.S. audience of “less affluent, Hispanic urban dwellers” was joined by an influx of affluent “techno-yuppies” who shop at Banana Republic (source: Hitwise).

Mobile TV viewing could increase by 74 percent (source: Orange).

— More than a million UK men aged 16-34 will watch on mobile during the day (source: Starcom MediaVest).

— Streaming a game to mobile eats 400Mb. “There is a high probability that networks could become saturated(source: Deloitte).