With final broadcasting deals now locked up, this year’s Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 will be a hard event to avoid. In less than two weeks, 31 May to 15 June, the best men’s and women’s teams will take to The Hague to battle for glory and the right to claim the 13th Hockey World Cup title. With 76 matches, 24 teams and 15 countries represented, this climax event of the world hockey calendar will feature extensive global television coverage, high activation from global partners, record YouTube viewership and social media fan engagement, while an impressive international media attendance is expected.
One company ready to set the bar for televised coverage is Sky Sports, who will provide United Kingdom and Irish viewers with the latest innovation and analysis tools with the use of the SkyPad.
“We will show all of the matches, all the teams and all the players,” said Phil Marshall, Sky Sports producer. “Sky Sports viewers can follow England's men and women's teams throughout the competitions as well as the reigning world champions. With so many men and women in the UK playing hockey regularly, I'm sure our World Cup coverage will be a popular part of our summer of sport.”
Also highlighting the list is ABC Television, Australia, who will have complete coverage live and on delay across the nation, which includes three different time zones.
“ABC Television, Australia is providing a daily highlights show for early evening prime time which will point to live match coverage later that evening,” outlined Justin Holdforth, Head of ABC TV Sport & Events. “The ABC will also provide extensive radio, news and online coverage and all programming will be available on our catch up service ‘iview’. Audiences will be able to immerse themselves in this wonderful tournament when they want, how they want and on whatever device they want.”
The interest level continues to impress as Germany will have 33 live matches carried by Sport 1. Belgium also has no shortage of interest with four channels sharing rights and broadcasting in both French and Flemish. Of course, all 76 matches will be available in the Netherlands on NOS or their cable partner Omroep West.
Asia’s leading sports network TEN Sports will have 38 live matches showing in India with preview shows for each of the India men’s games. In addition, they will also broadcast the women’s final.
Recently added to the list of nations with TV coverage are China and Spain. China Central Television (CCTV) is the predominant state television broadcaster in mainland China reaching more than one billion viewers. In Spain, TVE will broadcast the Spanish men’s matches.
In addition to television coverage, the demand from global sponsors to activate with the Rabobank Hockey World Cup is strong. A mix of national and international brands are represented including Adidas, Heineken, Hero and Volvo representing a wide number of brand categories. Both sponsors and fans will be able to enjoy the experience through the record-setting numbers set for YouTube viewership and social media engagement.
For the Rabobank Hockey World Cup, FIH is on target to exceed over 500,000 Facebook fans, 30 million impressions on Twitter, 7000 Instagram followers and will have over 3 million website views. YouTube plays an important role in the digital strategy and is set to have 1.25 million views for the live stream and video on demand for the World Cup alone. Fans will be treated to more than 500 pieces of video on demand during the competition with goal replays being tweeted within three minutes of scoring.
At the event itself, media interest will be higher than ever before with 250 accredited journalists on site, not including the 140 members of TV crew who will also be present. Of the 250 expected journalists, 150 will journey from outside of Holland and include all forms of media including print, online, TV and radio.
The two-stadium event is expected to sell out with Kyocera Stadium holding 15,000 fans, while GreenFields is equipped for 5,000 meaning that over the 15 competition days 250,000 ticket holders will file through the venue.
“On TV, at the venue, online or on a mobile device, the Rabobank Hockey World Cup will be the most highly covered and easily accessible hockey event ever seen before,” said Kelly Fairweather, FIH CEO.
Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 | TV Broadcasting Reach
| Location | Network | Details |
| Australia | ABC | Australia games live or tape delay; semis and finals live across the country. All this and a "prime time" daily highlights show will be available to everyone in Australia. |
| Belgium | Telenet / VRT, BeTV / RTBF15 | Belgium games and finals live on VRT and Telenet in Flemish and on BeTV and RTBF in French |
| China | CCTV | All China pool play matches, plus possibility of semi-finals and finals |
| England, Ireland | Sky Sports | All England games, semi-finals, finals and much more live on UK’s premium sports channel |
| Germany, Central Europe | SPORT1 | 33 matches live including Germany games, semi-finals and finals broadcast to Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria |
| India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka | TEN Sports | Live coverage of 38 men’s matches, plus pre-game show for all of India’s matches |
| Malaysia, Singapore | ASTRO | 46 games live on #1 sports network in Malaysia |
| Netherlands | NOS | 2 live games per day including the Dutch matches on NOS |
| Netherlands | Omroep West | All other World Cup games live on this cable channel, covering 80% of Holland |
| New Zealand | Sky Sports | New Zealand games live, semi and finals live, New Zealand’s premium sports channel |
| Spain | TVE (Teledeportes) | All Spain matches broadcast live |
| South America | ESPN Sur | All Argentina games plus semi-finals and finals live. Others games on cable channel, covers Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Brazil |
| South Africa, Africa | Supersport | All 76 games live on Supersport, covers over 53 countries in Sub Saharan Africa. |
| USA | ESPN3 | Online streaming to over 92 million households in USA |
