Time Shifting Helps Increase The Popularity Of Soccer

Time shifting, the recording of programming to watch or listen to later at a more convenient time, has changed the way we consume media, but I believe it’s also led to the increased popularity of soccer worldwide.

Out of all of the Premier League, Euro 2008 and Champions League soccer that you watch, how much of it do you watch live? Or, if you’re like me and others, do you end up watching it after a long day at work or while the kids are sleeping?

It’s not just TV where we time shift. Many of us listen to soccer-related podcasts or radio shows on our iPods or via our browsers at more convenient times.

Imagine, for a second, that time shifting didn’t exist. We would be forced to sit down to watch our favorite soccer matches at the exact time when they were shown live on television. It’d be a nice change at first, but in the hectic life that so many of us live nowadays, we would end up consuming less soccer programming than we currently do.

Time shifting, in the form of Tivo or DVRs, allows us to watch more soccer programming than ever before. Rather than being constrained to watching only those things that we can see live, we’re able to record several matches during the week as well as soccer news programs and related shows, and then watch them whenever we have time.

The future of soccer programming has a tremendous growth potential over the next few years. Many more of us are consuming our soccer online instead of just on television. Plus with the progress being made with high-speed internet connections on cellphones, we’ll be experiencing soccer on-the-go especially with the popularity of the Apple iPhone.

Time shifting, as a whole, has changed the way we experience our favorite sport. Combined with the incredible choices of soccer coverage online via websites, these technologies provide soccer fans with even more ways to share their passion. And it’s importantly made the sport more accessible to new fans. It wasn’t that long ago when many of us lived in the soccer dark ages (especially in the United States) where we idolized a certain Lionel Bienvenu because that’s all we had. How times have changed.