YouTube records over 1.7 billion World Cup viewers, Pichai says

New Delhi: Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday said YouTube recorded more than 1.7 billion unique viewers worldwide for FIFA World Cup-related videos, taking lifetime views of such content past 200 billion. He said this made it YouTube’s most-viewed FIFA World Cup ever.

Pichai shared the update on X while reposting a message from YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. Mohan said the platform’s first Creator Cup drew more than 10 million live views. He added that creator content throughout the tournament brought in over 2.5 billion views globally.

Mohan also thanked YouTube’s partners, creators and teams for helping deliver what he called a fan experience unlike any other. He congratulated Spain on winning the championship.

The tournament also drew huge in-stadium crowds, with US President Donald Trump saying more than 6.5 million spectators attended matches across 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Trump described it as perhaps the most successful sporting event in history and said fans from 200 countries attended 104 matches.

Beyond the stadiums, the tournament also disrupted workplaces in the US. A report said World Cup matches may have reduced American productivity by as much as $11.7 billion, while the overall global impact was nearly $17 billion.

Data from workplace platform Envoy showed the sharpest disruption came after the US men’s team was eliminated, with office attendance dropping 26 per cent on July 7 and employee entries falling 11.5 per cent.

(Inputs from IANS)