India will follow the FIFA World Cup on TV: Nielsen survey

Indians love television when it comes to following the FIFA World Cup, says the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey. Eight in 10 (81 per cent) Indians will follow the live telecast of the games on television, while 58 per cent will follow the games in the newspapers and a half (51 per cent) will watch the games in delayed broadcasts and highlights on TV.

According to the survey, 15 per cent of the Indians surveyed would like to catch all the action live from the stands and intend to travel to South Africa to watch the games.

Out of the many methods, if Indians had to choose one main method to follow the tournament, it would be live broadcasts on television, says the survey. About 67 per cent Indians would mainly use this method to watch the games, followed by delayed broadcasts and highlights on TV (7 per cent) and newspapers (7 per cent).

The survey also indicates that the sponsors of the World Cup are generating huge brand awareness through their associations with the tournament.

When asked who they thought were the sponsors of the FIFA World Cup, 39 per cent Indians said it was Adidas; 30 per cent said it was Coca-Cola, while 26 per cent believed it to be Castrol.

The survey also revealed that Adidas, Coca-Cola, Visa and Sony - four of the six top level FIFA partner sponsors - are the brands which are most strongly associated worldwide with the World Cup. Also, there's high recognition of the involvement of World Cup sponsors McDonald's, Emirates, Castrol and Continental.

For the record, the survey, carried out during March 8-26, involved 27,000 consumers in 55 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, West Asia and North America.