Watkins’ Wonder Goal Boosts Advertising Impact
England’s last minute semi final win at Euro 2024 drove an almost 200% uplift in ad views compared to Spain v France semi final.
Staines, London(11 Jul 2024)
- Half time ad break was most valuable of the match
- Big moments drove viewing peaks on mobile throughout, including Saka’s disallowed offside strike
- Extended viewing peak as England fans waited on tenterhooks for VAR penalty decision
- Full time ad break saw almost 200% uplift in ad views compared to the Spain v France semi final
England’s wait for a shot at Euro 2024 glory is over. The negativity around ‘dull’ play, lack of form and energy were all forgotten when Ollie Watkins’ sensational strike in the 90th minute found the back of the net. Viewing stats from Yospace, the dynamic ad insertion company, and gathered from broadcaster customers across four continents, showed that - thanks to the match being action-packed from start to finish - viewing stats were high throughout, with the ad break at half time proving to be the most watched of the match.
End to end football from start to finish is not just the fans dream but also a dream for advertisers too. In the first semi final on Tuesday between Spain and France, where all three goals came in the first half, Yospace saw a 71% drop off in ad views at full time compared to half time. On the other hand, the England game, with its late drama, saw an almost 200% uplift in ad views at full time compared to the pattern of Spain v France.
There were distinctive peaks in mobile traffic at all of the key moments of the match. There was a sudden surge in mobile viewers for all of the goals, including Bukayo Saka’s disallowed goal for England in the second half. VAR drove the longest peak as fans awaited a penalty decision and watched Harry Kane’s resulting spot kick goal.
Talking to the unpredictable nature of ‘the beautiful game’, Tim Sewell, CEO at Yospace said: ”Yet again, England came back from the brink with an unexpected goal late on. We delivered two semi finals with two very different stories in terms of viewer and ad trends, which goes to show the unpredictable nature of streaming and monetising live sports, especially when the complexities of addressability and mass scale come together.”
Yospace, the dynamic ad insertion company, with 25 years in broadcast, media and telco has unique insights by working with 13 broadcasters of Euro 2024 across the globe.
The company is a pioneer of addressable advertising with broadcast-grade quality for live streaming, driven by its world-leading server-side ad insertion (SSAI) technology and innovations such as dynamic prefetch, which deliver maximum fill-rates and ad revenues during the most unpredictable and demanding live moments.
To date, Yospace has monetised five Olympic Games, five FIFA World Cups, and thirty-five Grand Slam tennis tournaments. Euro 2024 is the third edition of the pan-European men’s football tournament to be monetised by the company.