Sao Paulo: When it comes time for Brazilians to choose who to watch on the soccer field this month Neymar or Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo the response might be surprising.
Because of an unusual set of circumstances, it will be the European Championship that reaches more viewers in Brazil than the Copa America even though Brazil is expected to host South American the tournament under a completely different set of unusual circumstances.
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TV Globo, which is accessible to 99.47% of Brazilians, doesn't have the rights to broadcast Copa America this year but has exclusive rights to show Euro 2020 matches on its free channel and digital platforms. The rest of the games will be on the network's pay channel.
Copa America will be on the country's third-most popular broadcaster and distant Globo rival TV SBT.
"If Portugal, France go far there could be a lot of good ratings for Globo, even better than the last time, said Mauricio Stycer, an analyst who has written several books on the Brazilian TV industry.
"There will be fewer watching Copa America than the Euros. If you see SBT figures in Copa Libertadores, which they just took from Globo, it is usually half of what Globo used to get. Copa America can be similar."
Euro 2020 will be played in several countries around Europe from June 11-July 11, with the semifinals and final at Wembley Stadium in London.
Copa America, which had originally been scheduled to be co-hosted by Colombia and Argentina, will instead be played in Brazil from June 13-July 10. Colombia was dropped as co-host in May because of street protests and Argentina was stripped because the country is being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Globo reached about 80 million viewers when it broadcast four Euro 2012 matches. In the following edition, which was won by Portugal in 2016, it had about 101 million people watching six matches.
This time, Globo will broadcast five matches on its open channel, including four from the knockout stage, plus another seven on digital platforms. In 2012 and 2016, it had to split the rights with another channel, TV Band.
Media analysts predict Globo will have better results this time with possibly 20% more viewers while TV SBT is unlikely to reach as many people throughout all of Copa America even with Brazil as host.
Kantar Ibope Media, a company that tracks ratings, said SBT reached only 33 million viewers in February for the Copa Libertadores final at the Maracan Stadium in Rio de Janeiro a match between Brazilian teams Palmeiras and Santos.