Men’s Volleyball World Championship watched by millions

• Men’s final watched by over 10 million in Italy and Poland alone
• Championship enjoyed by fans in 90 countries
• 40 million fans engaged on Volleyball World Facebook and Instagram channels
• Women’s World Championship starts this Friday

Ahead of the Volleyball Women’s World Championship that begins on Friday, viewing figures for the men’s championship in Poland and Slovenia have further highlighted volleyball’s huge worldwide popularity with millions across the globe enjoying the action.

In Italy, RAI 1 and Sky Sports recorded outstanding audience figures that saw a peak of four million viewers witnessing their enthralling 3-1 victory over co-hosts Poland in the final in Katowice – a total market share of 25 per cent.

Poland’s run to the final also captured the imagination of fans in Poland, with enormous interest resulting in a combined 13.1 million peak audience watching their semifinal win over Brazil (6.5m) and the final (6.7m) on TVP and Polsat. Each match had a total average market share of approximately 40 per cent across the two channels.

It was a similar story in Brazil, where 4.5 million fans tuned in to watch the final weekend to see the South American team win bronze.

The championship was screened through broadcast partnerships covering 90 territories around the world, while Volleyball World TV, Volleyball World’s OTT platform, saw over 600,000 unique viewers watch 38.8 million minutes of action during the course of the competition. Furthermore, video content posted on the Volleyball World YouTube channel during the event period, which included extended highlights of each match and the Quick Set show, was viewed 17.5 million times

The championship also generated huge interest on social media with over 40 million fans reached across Volleyball World’s Facebook and Instagram accounts between 26 August and 12 September. That led to over 1.5 million engagements. On the Volleyball World Twitter account for the same period, almost 12 million impressions were recorded on the posted content, with 645,000 engagements.

Volleyball World CEO Finn Taylor said: “We are hugely encouraged by these glowing viewing figures which once again prove the undoubted global popularity of volleyball.

“The Volleyball World Championship is the crown jewel in national team competitions, and it is fantastic to see the appetite of fans consuming content in various digital means.

“After such a breath-taking event, we are now looking forward to building on these numbers for the eagerly anticipated Women’s World Championship in the Netherlands and Poland.”

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° said: “I am delighted to see the continuous growth of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in terms of both the level of the national teams and the skyrocketing interest from fans globally.

“The huge numbers generated by the event on digital channels and TV clearly demonstrate the event’s potential and popularity not only in the top volleyball nations, but also across many countries all over the world.

“We look forward to building on these successes with upcoming events this season.”

The Volleyball Women’s World Championship will take place in the Netherlands and Poland, and runs from 23 September to 15 October. For more information on the event, click here.

About Volleyball World

Volleyball World is a new partnership between the FIVB and the CVC Capital Partners aimed at driving growth, innovation, and investment in volleyball around the globe. Its goal is to create an integrated ecosystem connecting all volleyball stakeholders (fans, athletes, corporate partners) together through both digital and live events. Volleyball World is responsible for the commercial operation of key volleyball and beach volleyball international events, including: the World Championships, Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Qualifiers and Beach Pro Tour.