The biggest edition in the history of the World Cup begins this Thursday (11) and brings a profound change in the way Brazilian fans will follow the tournament. For the first time, YouTube, through CazéTV, holds the rights to all 104 games, with around half of them exclusive. Globo and SBT share the rest of the broadcasts.
The tournament, which brings together 48 teams from the United States, Mexico and Canada, reinforces the trend of migration to digital platforms. CazéTV, a LiveMode project with Casimiro Miguel, appears as the only free option to watch the entire competition. Some of the content also reaches Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ for subscribers.
YouTube moves from complementarity to the center
Victor Machado, leader of sports partnerships at YouTube in Brazil, highlights that the service is already consumed by 80 million Brazilians on television. In April, the platform accounted for 14.6% of the TV share and 21.6% considering all screens — almost triple that of pay TV.
The World Cup serves as a business card to attract new audiences. The expectation is that those who arrive for the games for the first time will continue to consume other live content, such as Brasileirão, La Liga (with exclusive rights from CazéTV until 2032) and even competitions from other channels that migrate to the platform.
Globo and SBT bet on antenna to reduce delay
Faced with the unprecedented scenario, Globo opted for a strategy that harks back to the past: reinforcing open transmission via digital antenna. The broadcaster argues that the signal arrives with less delay compared to streaming, allowing fans to celebrate the goal at the same time as their neighbors. SBT follows a similar line, with Galvão Bueno narrating the Brazilian games.
Casimiro has already made fun of the situation on broadcast: “Have you already bought your antenna? Tune in to CazéTV!” The debate about the seconds difference loses steam in half of the matches, which will be exclusive to the internet.
What changes for the fan
Anyone who wants to follow all the games will, in practice, need to use CazéTV at some point. The platform promises 4K quality and a language closer to the young audience, with greater identification with the presenters.
In previous World Cups, the tournament promoted technologies such as color TV and high definition. This time, the legacy could be behavioral: consolidating streaming as the main option for live events and further fragmenting the audience, which migrates to an ecosystem with dozens of options instead of a few dominant broadcasters.
Brazil debuts against Morocco on the 13th, and the dispute between traditional and digital screens promises to be as talked about as the moves on the field.