世界杯屡破美国视频播放纪录

The World Cup has become the most streamed live sporting event the US has ever seen, as Americans tuned in to this year’s tournament on their smartphones, tablets and computers in record numbers.

今年通过智能手机、平板电脑和电脑观看世界杯(World Cup)比赛的美国人数创下历史纪录，世界杯也成为美国有史以来在流媒体上实时播放量最大的体育赛事。

A surge of US interest in football this year has also led to record television audiences for broadcasts on ESPN and Uni­vision, the Spanish-language network. The US team’s loss on Tuesday to Belgium averaged a 9.6 overnight rating on ESPN, according to Nielsen, the highest for any World Cup match the network has broadcast.

今年美国人对足球兴趣激增，还推动ESPN和西班牙语电视网Univision的收视率创下纪录。尼尔森(Nielsen)的数据显示，周二美国队负于比利时队的那场比赛，让ESPN的晚间平均收视率达到9.6%，高于ESPN播放过的任何其他世界杯比赛。

But a 50 per cent surge in live streaming compared with the previous record, set during the 2017 London Olympics, shows that the sport’s appeal has grown particularly among younger, more digital, fans.

世界杯期间的流媒体实时播放时长较之前2017年伦敦奥运会(2017 London Olympics)期间创下的纪录飙升了50%，尤其反映出足球运动对更习惯数字化生活的年轻球迷的吸引力正在快速增长。

US viewers have so far watched nearly 30m hours of streaming video on ESPN’s World Cup website and apps, the network said, beating the previous record of 20.4m viewing hours during NBC’s 2017 Olympics coverage. Univision has streamed 1.5m hours since the start of the tournament.

ESPN表示，世界杯开赛至今，美国观众已在ESPN世界杯网站和应用上观看了近3000万小时的流媒体视频，这一数字打破了美国全国广播公司(NBC)在2017年奥运会转播期间创下的2040万小时的观看时长纪录。自本届世界杯开赛以来，美国观众在Univision电视网上观看的流媒体视频时长已达150万小时。

Last week’s USA v Germany match drew a record 1.7m streaming viewers to ESPN at its peak, with streaming on Univision peaking at 747,000. Tuesday’s USA v Belgium match peaked at 1.5m streams on ESPN and 680,000 on Univision.

上周美国队对德国队的比赛，在高峰时段，有创纪录的170万观众观看了ESPN的流媒体，有74.7万观众观看Univision的流媒体。周二美国队对比利时队的比赛，在高峰时段，则吸引了150万观众观看ESPN的流媒体，68万观众观看Univision的流媒体。

In comparison, live streaming of January’s Super Bowl peaked at 1.1m.

与之形成对照的是，1月份的超级碗(Super Bowl)实时流媒体观众在高峰时段为110万人。

While the elimination of the US team leaves a question mark over US fans’ interest in the rest of the tournament, Univision’s audience for non-US games has been robust.

尽管美国队被淘汰后，美国球迷对本届世界杯剩余赛事的兴趣到底如何还要打个问号，但Univision的观众对观看没有美国队参加的比赛一直热情很高。

Univision said its broadcast on Sunday of the Mexico v Netherlands match was the most-watched programme, of any kind, in US Spanish-language TV history, with an average 10.4m viewers. Its audiences have been largest in cities with large Spanish-speaking populations, such as Miami, Los Angeles, Houston and New York.

Univision表示，上周日其对墨西哥队对荷兰队那场比赛的转播，观看人数平均为1040万人，是美国西班牙语电视史上播出过的所有类型的节目中观看人数最多的。Univision的观众主要来自迈阿密、洛杉矶、休斯敦和纽约等拥有庞大西班牙语人群的城市。

With most matches being shown during business hours, Americans are increasingly turning to their devices to keep up with the tournament. Fifa, football’s governing body, said US fans make up 20 per cent of its global digital audience and are spending more time on its website and apps than fans in Brazil, Germany, England and France combined.

由于本届世界杯的比赛大多在美国人的上班时间进行，因此越来越多美国人用自己的手机、平板电脑和电脑跟踪比赛情况。国际足联(FIFA)表示，美国球迷占其全球数字观众的20%，在其网站和应用上花的时间超过巴西、德国、英格兰和法国球迷的总和。

The flood of demand caused some problems with ESPN’s feeds, leading frustrated viewers to take to Twitter to complain about the match cutting out. That had also happened during the USA v Germany game.

观看需求的暴增给ESPN的流媒体视频播放造成了一些问题，郁闷的观众纷纷上Twitter抱怨比赛播放中断。这种情况在美国队对德国队的比赛期间也发生过。