People in China are watching the World Cup at weird times because of a 12-hour time difference. Groundbreaking stuff. Someone alert the International Dateline Committee.
The real story is that Chinese viewers now have multiple streaming options instead of being forced to watch state television broadcast the games with a seven-second delay and mandatory patriotic commentary. Progress looks like choosing between three different apps that all buffer at the exact same moment Messi touches the ball.
A 12-hour time difference means games kick off during lunch breaks and work hours. This presents Chinese office workers with an impossible choice: pretend to care about quarterly projections or watch Argentina struggle against Saudi Arabia on a phone hidden under a desk. The GDP implications are staggering. Productivity might drop by as much as the amount of productivity that was happening before, which is to say it's a rounding error.
Streaming options have multiplied because tech companies realized they could charge people money to watch the same broadcast with different color-corrected filters and banner ads. Revolutionary. One app reportedly offers multi-angle replays. Another has live stats that update six minutes after the event happens. A third just shows you the game but costs more because the logo is premium.
The combination of daytime viewing and scattered streaming platforms means Chinese fans are experiencing the World Cup the way Americans experience European soccer: alone, on a phone, during work hours, feeling vaguely guilty about it but not guilty enough to stop.
Twelve hours is also the perfect amount of time for someone in New York to watch a game, post about it online, and spoil the result before anyone in Shanghai finishes their morning commute. Modern connectivity has given us the gift of ruining sporting events across time zones with unprecedented efficiency.
Photo by Ryota Rodriguez on Unsplash
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