Prices increase, copyright violations do not decrease
World Cup TV copyright prices have increased every season. 20 years ago, the Vietnamese station spent 2.1 million USD to broadcast the World Cup live. After 2 decades, the recorded figure is 15 million USD at the 2022 World Cup.
Up to now, many sources have revealed that the copyright price for the 2026 World Cup that FIFA wants to sell is not less than 16 million USD, possibly up to 20 million USD.
The 2026 World Cup copyright price is higher than 4 years ago because the tournament gathered 48 participating teams, instead of 32 as usual. Therefore, the number of matches has also increased from 64 to more than 100.
Television copyright prices are rising day by day. However, in Vietnam, the problem of "smuggling" and illegal image exploitation shows no signs of abating.
Regarding the copyright story, recently, Vietnam Television (VTV) had to warn a series of websites about copyright infringement in broadcasting the match between Malaysia and Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Previously, another broadcaster's rights were also affected because it could not protect UEFA Champions League copyright in Vietnam. Or K+ also suffered hundreds of billions of VND in losses due to football-related violations...
Media Partners Asia once released a notable statistic. That is up to 15.5 million online video copyright violators in Vietnam in 2022. This figure caused a loss of 348 million USD, accounting for 18% of the total revenue of the industry. This unit forecasts that by 2027, the above figure will increase to 19.5 million people and 456 million USD.
Therefore, Vietnamese broadcasters are not only facing the increasingly escalating World Cup copyright prices, but also struggling to solve the problem of "illegal watching" that has been going on for more than a decade.
Waiting for the audience's awareness
It is not difficult to search for websites that illegally broadcast domestic and international football matches on the internet or in closed groups on social networks. Even a team of "illegal" commentators are willing to sit for hours on the computer to report on copyright infringement matches.
Many fans search for keywords addressed to the above addresses. They are willing to watch the match with low broadcasting quality and risks against disguised advertisements...
Of course, this action caused serious consequences for Vietnamese broadcasters. In addition to the cost of 15-20 million USD to buy the world tournament broadcasting rights, the station involved had to spend a few hundred thousand USD to build and maintain a team of technicians in an effort to protect the "assets" that it invested in.
However, this effort has not been able to end the copyright and awareness of "watching pagodas, watching illegal" violations of a part of the fans. Remember, in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, it is estimated that for each match with the Vietnamese team, more than 20,000 Facebook accounts accessed 30 websites for smuggling content.
Or at the 2018 World Cup, just 3 days after the opening, Vietnam Television also discovered more than 700 cases of copyright infringement on the Internet. As a result, the station's advertising revenue has also decreased.
In addition, Vietnamese broadcasters have also been warned by FIFA - the copyright owner worldwide - to cut the broadcast halfway if they cannot prevent copyright infringement in Vietnam.
To prevent copyright infringement, FIFA actually has a tool to handle violating pages and channels with a time limit of 2 minutes. The World Football Organization also coordinates with social networking platforms to legally handle violations.
In addition, FIFA supported Vietnam stations in the plan to review and scan throughout the match to detect and handle notable violations.
Of course, the awareness of the audience is the final and important factor. Only the professionalism and nay- say-no to the forms of illegal viewing of fans can help the station be confident in investing in buying the broadcasting rights of tournaments, including the 2026 World Cup.
Commentator Quang Tung once shared with Lao Dong: "In the past, there has been a widespread situation of illegal copyright mining channels with high value. As football lovers, aiming for civilization to enjoy high-class performances of world football as well as quality products at the World Cup, I think we need to say no to copyright".
