America may still be torn on whether to fully embrace soccer, but it’s clear plenty of viewers are more than eager to watch the World Cup every four years.
How dominate did the just-wrapped soccer contest prove? Even people soaring through the clouds couldn’t resist checking out the games, according to Deadline.com. And Sundays finale, in which Germany flexed its soccer muscles before the globe, proved irresistible to airline passengers.
The sky as a content destination is a fast-growing business with companies like Global Eagle, Gogo and Panasonic Avionics connecting entertainment and airline passengers in new ways.
In a historic first, and courtesy of Panasonic’s in-flight Sport 24 channel, Sunday’s World Cup final was shown live by nine international carriers. According to the company, Germany’s defeat of Argentina was seen by 40,000 people, 35,000 feet above Earth. Bloomberg reports the figure is a record for a live in-flight TV broadcast. Throughout the World Cup and across such carriers as Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Emirates, Panasonic estimated that 1.5M passengers will have seen the tournament live on its systems.
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