The World Cup kickoff was supposed to be a TV spectacle - but for many viewers, the World Cup started with frustration. ZDF went live to the opening ceremony before the match between host Mexico and South Africa (2:0) at the Azteca Stadium only several minutes late. While the ceremony was already underway and artists were on stage, the broadcaster was still showing commercials. On social media, the anger didn't take long to surface.
ZDF showed understanding for the criticism in a statement, but pointed to legal requirements: "ZDF is required to finance part of its budget through the broadcast of commercials. ARD and ZDF are allowed to broadcast up to 20 minutes of commercials daily before 8 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, excluding holidays. The last commercial block on World Cup opening day ran until around 7:44 p.m."
The broadcaster gave a similar explanation in the Instagram comments. "And why do you place the commercial block exactly during the opening ceremony?", was the response from one unsatisfied viewer. Another critical comment added: "The answer completely misses the point. It's not about WHETHER commercials are allowed, but WHY they're broadcast exactly at the start of the opening ceremony."
Seven minutes missing - Shakira was then visible
Starting at 5:15 p.m., ZDF broadcast preliminary reports on the World Cup opening, with hosts Jochen Breyer and Katrin Müller-Hohenstein introducing the expert team - including former Freiburg coach Christian Streich. Shortly before 7:30, Breyer announced a short break, after which commentator Oliver Schmidt was supposed to report live from the Azteca Stadium. This break expanded considerably. At the end of the day, ZDF viewers missed about seven minutes of the roughly 20-minute ceremony, including the performances by Danny Ocean and Lila Downs. The complete show could only be followed on MagentaTV.
The crowning finale of the ceremony - Shakira, who once again produced the World Cup song and presented it together with Burna Boy - could then at least be followed in full by ZDF viewers. The broadcaster also explained in its statement, presumably to appease viewers: "All music acts from the opening ceremony were and are also available online on ZDF's streaming portal. The opening ceremony can also still be watched there as a replay."
Nevertheless: More than ten million viewers
The delay didn't cause lasting damage to the ratings. According to AGF/GfK data, an average of 10.04 million viewers watched the opening match on ZDF, which corresponded to a market share of 46.5 percent. Even more people tuned in only for "heute journal" during halftime: 10.49 million viewers with a 46.8 percent market share.
