Blog: FIFA

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Live services: Is the success of the few clouding the strategic judgement of the many?

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Perry Gresham

19 May 2023

microtransactions

EA are heavily committed to the live service model, with their earnings release for financial year ending March 2023 putting their share of games revenues from full game purchases at just 26%, meaning that 74% came from live services and other revenue sources.

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Will PlayStation Tournaments deliver on Sony’s hopes?

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Perry Gresham

9 Dec 2022

competitive gaming

PlayStation recently announced “ PlayStation Tournaments ”, a new on-console tournaments platform designed to centralise events. Participants can enter a range of tournaments and win prizes based on their performance – including in real life (IRL) prizes.

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Is global sport now entering into the Colin Kaepernick era?

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Tim Mulligan

1 Dec 2022

For soccer fans, the last two weeks have been difficult. The World Cup kicked off on November 20thamid FIFA’s controversial prohibition of players wearing the OneLove armband (designed to protest host nation Qatar’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws).

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Fox brings its FIFA World Cup 2022 coverage into the streaming era

Cover image for Fox brings its FIFA World Cup 2022 coverage into the streaming era

Tim Mulligan

20 Sep 2022

FIFA World Cup 2022

Last week, Fox subsidiary Tubi launched a dedicated linear channel for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tournament. Alongside using Fox’s US broadcast rights to live stream all tournament matches and highlights, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel will provide series and films focusing on previous world cups.

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What happened with EA and FIFA and why both are probably going to be fine

Cover image for What happened with EA and FIFA and why both are probably going to be fine

Karol Severin

12 May 2022

As we warned in October 2021, the divorce of EA and FIFA has come into fruition. EA’s FIFA series has been rebranded to EA Sports FC and FIFA (the organisation) is taking its brand away to expand on the games opportunity more effectively (at least, so it believes).

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Climate crisis awareness is entwined with entertainment behaviour

Cover image for Climate crisis awareness is entwined with entertainment behaviour

Hanna Kahlert

2 Feb 2022

Media and Marketing

Audience Insight

Despite the barrage of high-profile news items featuring so far in 2022, the climate crisis remains the high-stakes backdrop to our global future. MIDiA Research recently fielded a survey asking about consumers’ climate-conscious behaviours, cross-segmented against their normal entertainment proclivities – and some of the findings are surprising.

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EA’s exclusive FIFA license is under threat as games go cross-entertainment

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Karol Severin

22 Oct 2021

Last week it was reported that FIFA and EA are at an impasse regarding the renewal negotiations of an exclusive license deal. EA stated that it is considering renaming its flagship football title, while FIFA responded with a press release stating that “the future of gaming and esports for football stakeholders must involve more than one party controlling and exploiting all the rights’’ This is less about who is right and who is wrong, and more about the synergy of this once symbiotic partnership having run its course.

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The games universe is driving the rise of global football fandom

Cover image for The games universe is driving the rise of global football fandom

Srishti Das

3 Sep 2021

English Premier League

Sport is built on the pillar of fandom, with a global network of passionate fanbases who are driven by different sporting cultures across the world. Football is a prime global example of this, with multiple popular leagues and tournaments spread out over the year.

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Is gaming the solution to sports’ Gen Z problem?

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Alistair Taylor

8 Mar 2021

It has been well-documented that Gen Z’s and Generation Alpha’s interest in watching live sports has waned . It is important to dispel the notion that the younger cohorts are less likely to engage with sports, but rather to appreciate that they just consume them differently .

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Premier League Acknowledges Priorities Have Changed During Lockdown

Cover image for Premier League Acknowledges Priorities Have Changed During Lockdown

Alistair Taylor

11 Jun 2020

artificial crowd noise

The English Premier League (EPL) is set to return to screens next Wednesday, over three months since the last fixture graced our screens. Considering the pandemic enforced-postponement has deprived sports fans of any live content since early March, the return of the EPL is big news for sports – even if the viewing spectacle is going to be inherently different.

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The Battle Down Under

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Alistair Taylor

23 Apr 2020

#playerstogether

additive services

With COVID-19 exposing the vulnerability of pureplay sport streaming services , the importance of building out a robust and downturn-proof offering is fundamental to the viability of these currently additive services.

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Play for the World – EA Aims to Fill Void via FIFA Stay and Play Cup

Alistair Taylor

16 Apr 2020

In 2003, FIFA updated its primary logo to include the words ‘For the Game. For the World.’ Fast forward 17 years and governments around the world are instructing their citizens to stay inside. Now it is almost as if Nike consulted FIFA on its latest marketing campaign ‘Play Inside, Play for the World’, imploring enamored fans to play for the 7.

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Six Nations Behind a Paywall: Can Rugby Afford to Bench Free-To-Air?

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Alistair Taylor

6 Mar 2020

consumption habits

Six Nations organisers are reportedly considering awarding the exclusive distribution rights for its annual competition to pay-TV operator Sky, in an unprecedented £300 ($384) million deal. Organisers have said they ‘would not rule anything out’ as the Rugby Paper reported the championship would go behind a paywall on Sky .

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‘If You Ain’t First, You’re Last’: Revenue-Over-Reach Argument Not Refuted for F1

Cover image for ‘If You Ain’t First, You’re Last’: Revenue-Over-Reach Argument Not Refuted for F1

Alistair Taylor

9 Jan 2020

audience viewership

2019 audience figures for Formula One (F1) provide the latest example of a rights holder opting for short-term revenue optimisation over long-term strategic growth, to the detriment of its viewing audience.

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The NFL and Pizza Hut: Future-Proofing with E-Sports

Cover image for The NFL and Pizza Hut: Future-Proofing with E-Sports

Alistair Taylor

18 Oct 2019

ad responsiveness

addressable audience

advert experimentation

While sharing pizza has already become synonymous with watching sports, e-sports could be about to leverage that same instilled behaviour. Restaurant chain Pizza Hut made history this July when it became the first brand to secure naming rights for a virtual football stadium in an agreement with Madden NFL creator EA Sports.

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Demographic cliff: Is gaming sports’ biggest problem?

Cover image for Demographic cliff: Is gaming sports’ biggest problem?

Alistair Taylor

14 Aug 2019

daily active usage

Is the peaking attention economy the underlying cause for the decline in sports consumption from the younger demographic, or is it the mediums through which rights holders are distributing sports content ? MIDiA argues… both.

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Is Pay-TV killing off Niche Sports?

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Alistair Taylor

4 Jul 2019

With both the ICC Cricket World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup approaching their climaxes, the stark difference in audience engagement raises the question, is pay-TV killing off niche sports? Deciding the medium through which to distribute live sports has never been more crucial.

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Is This The Last Broadcast TV World Cup?

Cover image for Is This The Last Broadcast TV World Cup?

Tim Mulligan

19 Jun 2018

English Premier League

The football World Cup – historically the world’s biggest international sporting event by viewership, kicked off last Thursday (14 June) in Moscow, with host nation Russia dispatching Saudi Arabia 5-0.

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Dalian Wanda’s Global Ambition Comes Up Against The Cold Logic Of Financial Reality

Tim Mulligan

27 Jun 2017

Atletico Madrid

Last week Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, which is controlled by China’s second wealthiest individual Wang Jialin, was placed under a regulatory probe by the China Banking Regulatory Commission . The powerful state regulator announced that it was looking into Dalian Wanda, along with Fosun International, HNA and Anbang, due to concerns about the systemic risk to the Chinese financial system for the overseas activities of these four disparate conglomerates.

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