This summer’s FIFA World Cup has already brought joy and disappointment to the masses. Regulars like the Netherlands, Chile, Cameroon, Italy, and the U.S. failed to qualify, breaking the hearts of millions. But you also have unlikely favorites like Panama, Iceland, Peru, and Tunisia that have inspired fans all over the globe.
If you are a real soccer fan, you will tune in regardless of who is playing. It’s the World Cup, a global spectacle that only comes around once every four years. It’s statistically the biggest and most-watched sporting event in the world. Yes, bigger than the Olympics, the NBA Finals, the World Series, even the Super Bowl.
It’s an event that must be experienced. While traveling to Russia is a wonderful option for the select few, hundreds of millions will have to experience it from home. And there is just way to fully experience the World Cup and that is Comcast’s legendary Xfinity X1 platform.
If you are lucky enough to have Comcast in your area, then you will have access to an amazing World Cup experience right from your own living room or man cave. Why is it the best way to view the World Cup? Here are nine reasons to get you thinking:
1. A hub for everything World Cup – World Cup Home serves as the hub for comprehensive coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ that offers more than 1,000 hours of live matches, On Demand highlights and replays from both Telemundo and FOX along with web clips and integrated scores, stats and data for easy search and discovery. X1 customers can access the World Cup homepage in either English or Spanish in a variety of ways, including voice commands like “Soccer,” “World Cup” or “Copa Mundial” via the X1 Voice Remote.
2. Notifications that will keep you in the know – Sports Notifications, debuting for the World Cup, empower X1 customers who want to be alerted about their favorite teams X1 notifications on the TV screen take you straight to the match you want to see. Text message alerts go to your mobile phone provide a direct link to the Xfinity Stream mobile app. Simply put, you will always know when your game is about to kick off.
3. Put your voice to work – Sports Voice Control allows soccer fans to use the X1 Voice Remote to see how their favorite teams stack up against the competition, preview upcoming games, get a World Cup summary or tune to games directly with their voice. Generating more than 1.5 billion voice commands in the first quarter of 2018 alone, X1 customers can find their favorite team’s information by saying, for example, “World Cup Standings,” or access team comparison cards in either English or Spanish by speaking commands like “Mexico vs. Germany,” or “Mexíco contra Alemania.”
4. Put your DVR to work – DVR Highlights allows fans to watch every big moment from the World Cup. Upon
playback of completed match recordings, X1 customers who have DVR service can quickly jump to the high-impact plays of the match. Since many matches air in the U.S. while people are at work, DVR Highlights makes it simple for X1 customers away from their TVs to never miss a goal. There’s no reason to worry about early kickoff times with Xfinity X1.
5. “I Want It Now” – Instant On Demand coverage of every game ensures that customers who missed the beginning of any match, regardless of which channel it airs on, can restart it from the beginning even while the match is still in progress. Missed the match entirely? No problem. Instant On Demand makes the full replay of the game available the minute the game is over.
6. A world-class app – X1 Sports App, frequently cited by customers as a favorite feature and used monthly by over 4 million households, gives customers the ability to dive deeper into the World Cup content they care about most. The app allows customers to easily record, watch and catch up on all the World Cup action, while also accessing real-time statistical information – all on the same screen as the game. Whether it’s pre-game team and player comparisons, in-progress scores or post-match highlights, the X1 Sports App has millions of soccer fans covered.
7. The best channels – World Cup Channels showcase the best moments of the tournament, including the most impressive goals, trending highlights, interviews and analysis. X1 customers can watch all the videos featured in a channel’s playlist or browse the videos they care about most by saying a voice command, such as “Best Goals.” Accessible via the World Cup Home, World Cup Channels are continually updated with the can’t-miss moments of the competition.
8. A solution for soccer fans on the go – World Cup on Xfinity Stream offers World Cup action on the go, via desktop web or the awesome Xfinity Stream mobile app. Customers can stream matches live from Telemundo, Universo, FOX, and FS1, catch up with full-event replays and highlights On Demand and watch pre-game predictions and post-game analysis from the palms of their hand. Simply put, you can watch it the way you want to.
9. The World Cup in 4K UHD…..enough said – World Cup in 4K UHD gives X1 customers the opportunity to experience Telemundo Deportes coverage of all 64 World Cup matches in stunning 4K Ultra High Definition with 56 airing on Telemundo and eight on Universo. Similar to the 2018 Winter Olympics, the games are available in 4K HDR the next day on demand for X1 customers who have a 4K-capable set-top box and a 4K television.
All of the reasons above are quite compelling, but #9 is a gamechanger for us. Watching the World Cup 4K is priceless, almost like being in Moscow, Sochi, Kazan, or St. Petersburg. It’s a beautiful presentation of the beautiful game.
So why did Comcast “go all in” on the World Cup? The answer is simple according to Preston Smalley, Vice President of Product Management within Comcast’s Technology & Product division.
“Comcast really has looked at some of these major sporting events going back to the Olympics as a as a good opportunity to really engage with our audience. We had a really a great showing with the most recent Winter Olympics in terms of driving viewership across our households. And so when we looked at the World Cup, you know, there’s really nothing there’s nothing is more watched in the World Cup internationally.”
Smalley also discussed some key demographics that would be in play for the World Cup.
“And so we looked at our households we’ve got seven million Hispanic households that we serve. And you know, looking back at the last World Cup, over 80% of Hispanic audience tuned in to watch the games, something like 15 hours worth of engagement. So it seemed like a natural opportunity for us to go after the World Cup as as an event to really showcase our overall X1 viewing experience and some of our advanced sports features so we leaned into that and and worked on a number of new interesting things for the for this World Cup.”
Comcast is obviously a major player in the media market. Between Comcast and other cable companies that they syndicate their experience to, they cover 50 of the top 65 markets in North America. And Comcast is working with both Fox and Telemundo to make sure their customers the very best experience for the World Cup.
“The broadcasting partners are key to bringing forth this coverage,” Smalley continued. “So we work closely with both Telemundo and Fox to bring the English and Spanish broadcasts. We will have all 64 matches covered across both networks. And one of the things that we did in conjunction with them is really ensure that that coverage was available not just in our homes, but also on the go. So in our Xfinity Stream app that people have on their mobile phones and tablets, we’re now able to stream live all of those games when you’re away from the home. That’s a new a new capability that we had to work on with both Fox and the local affiliates as well as Telemundo and their their local stations.”
Smalley and everyone at Comcast seemed to have thought of everything, including working with those awkward kickoff times.
“I mean whenever you’ve got a time delay like this, which is something we’re familiar with, I think covering the Olympics when it was when it was in Russia or most recently in Asia, we’ve become accustomed to how to deal with these time zone changes. And so it’s really there’s two things that we do. One is help people not miss it when they want to catch it live. And so we’ve actually built a new feature for the for this World Cup that we’re going to apply to other sporting events where you can get a notification on your phone or your TV when your team is about to play. So you can just tap that and tune right in. Similarly, our sports app, you can pull up and you know exactly when the game’s on. You can see pregame stats, and be able to set a recording for your favorite team so that’s where if you want to catch it live we’re going to help you.”
With Comcast you don’t have to wake up early or call off work to catch all the action live. There are other, more attractive options.
“But then secondarily if you can’t watch it live, you’re at work or asleep, then there’s several things we’re doing there,” Smalley concluded. “So I think we’ll have on demand highlights for the best moments. We’ve got a virtual station that’s set up where you can follow your favorite team and and catch all the action. And then if you use your DVR, what we’ve done is we’ll record for each of your teams, like if you’re following Argentina. If I want to catch all those games I’ll see that I can actually skip all the key moments of the game, where the goals are happening or if there’s any yellow cards or key moments, it’s marked up just like you would maybe a movie with chapter markers. So we try and provide however you want to watch it, whether it’s live or or catching it later, we’re going to have that available for you.”
The 2018 FIFA World Cup starts Thursday, June 14th so you have time to get Xfinity X1 in your home or office. It’s definitely the most immersive experience you will find when it comes to the World Cup, or any other sporting event for that matter. It takes the World Cup to a whole new level.
