Watch every moment from 2am this Sunday live and free on SBS and SBS on Demand
There are only two matches remaining in the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ and the most important one, broadcast in Australia from 2.00am on Monday morning, will see defending champions, France play Argentina in the tournament decider.
Argentina advanced to the final on Wednesday after defeating Croatia 3-0 in the first of the semi-final games, with an assured penalty shot by Lionel Messi in the 34th minute and two deft goals by Julián Álvarez.
While earlier this morning, France beat out Morocco 2-0, despite a valiant effort to the end from the North African side.
Before the final, Croatia and Morocco will play the 63rd match of the month-long tournament in Qatar on Sunday morning to decide who takes 3rd place. Then, in the early hours of Monday morning Argentina and France will battle it out, with the hope of taking home the world’s most coveted sporting trophy, the FIFA World Cup™.
Richard Bayliss will host the third place playoff with Mark Bosnich, Craig Foster and guest, Kyah Simon joining the commentary team. Niav Owens will host the final with Mark Bosnich, Craig Foster alongside Kyah Simon and Sarah Walsh. Martin Tyler will continue to provide world-exclusive match commentary on the ground.
SBS
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2022 FIFA World Cup semi finals ratings snapshot – Argentina v Croatia
With the 2022 FIFA World Cup decider between reigning champions France and a hopeful Argentina locked in, audiences are tuning into the final series in strong numbers on SBS’s linear TV channel and streaming platform, SBS On Demand.
Argentina’s victory over Croatia, securing the South Americans’ spot in the championship final, drew an average audience of 735,000 viewers for the 6am match, with linear accounting for 416,000 and BVOD for 319,000 viewers.
Linear reach for the match was 867,000, while BVOD achieved a reach of 699,000.
On SBS On Demand, just under half the digital audience (47.2%) for the match coverage** watched on a TV, with 35.6% watching on a smartphone or tablet.
In total, the 2022 FIFA World Cup live matches have achieved a linear reach on the SBS primary channel and SBS Viceland of 6.5 million viewers to date. BVOD reach to date is 4.4 million.
*TOTAL = Metro + Regional + BOVD (LIVE) + BVOD (VOD).
**Includes Live, Pre, and Post-Match. Source: OzTAM (Metro, VPM), Regional TAM, Reach based on 1 min. BVOD excludes viewing less than 15 minutes.
I do find it odd SBS continues to employ Tyler at this end of the tournament. I can understand an Aussie specialised commentary for Socceroos games but the likes of BeIN are taking world feed. Also the first time world feed has been two-headed commentary and it’s improved it markedly.
Or at the very least partner him up with someone. And can Basheer only call Aussie games?
The Tyler deal is really a legacy/historic thing that SBS has done since the 80s. Maybe even 10 years ago it would have been a drawcard, now the commentator has little draw, plus the World Feed has better callers now.
Tyler wouldn’t even be calling this World Cup if he wasn’t with SBS. He really should have retired before COVID. I’m sure he still has massive passion for the game but you can’t hear it anymore. Whenever he calls the game is just so much less exciting.
Something I’ve found really weird for me this World Cup is the question they seem to ask all the Player of the Match winners: basically asking them “I know we gave this to you but who do you think really deserves it?”
Seen at the end of this one:
I don’t understand the reason why you’d ask this question?
2022 FIFA World Cup semi finals ratings snapshot – France v Morocco
With just two matches remaining in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, audiences remain locked in to the on-field action, with the semi final closer between France and Morocco again drawing strong viewing numbers to SBS’s linear TV and digital channels.
The reigning champions’ defeat of Morocco drew an average audience of 716,000 viewers for the 6am match, with linear accounting for 422,000 viewers and BVOD for 294,000, via SBS On Demand.
Linear reach for the match achieved a phenomenal 870,000 viewers, with BVOD reach hitting 687,000.
The first African side to progress to this stage of a FIFA World Cup campaign, Morocco’s heroic run is reflected in local audiences’ interest, with roughly 4% of total active watchers on SBS On Demand consuming at least one video in Arabic.
Yeah look, I’m mixed on Martin Tyler. There is absolutely no disputing that he has been huge for the game over a long period of time, and has been the preeminent voice of football in the English-speaking world. I do find it quite something that as he has became a bigger name in football commentary and could’ve worked for US or UK broadcasters (or the world feed) for better pay, he instead has stayed loyal to SBS, so he should get respect for that. Worth remembering that he called Socceroos games for the ABC and SBS in the 90s too!
But I do agree that the enthusiasm for most of his calls has been lacking. Not to say he hasn’t had his moments; his call of Richarlison’s stunning bicycle kick, and at full-time when Japan defeated Germany were very good calls in my opinion, and I could hear a little bit of vintage Tyler come through - but most times he barely gets out of first gear unfortunately.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find that he gets more passionate when calling for Sky Sports instead of for world feed broadcasts (UCL, FA Cup, etc). Maybe it’s the Sky model of broadcasting that brings out the best in him, or that he’s paired up with a pundit (such as Gary Neville or Jamie Carragher) instead of calling solo like what SBS has went with for this tournament, which does him no favours.
I think that’s probably the best way to get the most out of him now. Means he only has to call for, say 50% of the game so can use his 100% over that time, instead of 100% over 100%.
This interview that Martin Tyler did for the SBS Sport website is a pretty interesting listen, where he goes into a bit of detail on how he started with SBS, and why he’s kept coming back through the years.
Bit of a reflective goodbye from Craig Foster on behalf of the World Game team at the end of this morning’s broadcast. Sounds as though they aren’t necessarily confident they’ll ever broadcast this again. Thanks SBS.
