When I decided to resign from Record TV, in 2013, to invest in live broadcasts on the internet, many thought I was crazy.
I remember that, at the time, I was already saying that in the not-so-distant future we would start watching major events live — including the national passion, football games — directly on YouTube.
In 2022, less than ten years later, CazéTV proved my theory was right. During the Qatar Cup, the channel showed that the democratization of access, no financial barriers or bureaucratic loginsit was definitely the new habit of the time.
In that edition of the competition, the platform recorded an impressive record: 6.9 million people simultaneously watching the tournament finalin which Argentina beat France on penalties.
But Globo still had Galvão.
And even though the charismatic Casimiro Miguel’s numbers already indicated the beginning of a drastic change in behavior and a new market trend, skeptics insisted on the conservative guide: “as long as YouTube has a much greater delay than the open TV signal, CazéTV will not be able to compete on equal terms with Globo”.
Cut to the scene, four years later.
The YouTube screen continues to have the same almost 30 seconds of signal delay. TV Globo, however, no longer has its history and main narrator who, loved or hated, was the biggest symbol of World Cup broadcasts in the country.
Continues after advertising
The competition’s attempt to turn this delay into a problem for the audience quickly fizzled out.
Record audience at Brazilian premiere
The numbers from the National Team’s debut at the 2026 World Cup don’t lie. During Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Morocco, the CazéTV reached the milestone of 12.2 million simultaneous views —with peaks of 12.7 million.
The match not only became the biggest football exhibition in the platform’s history, but surpassed YouTube’s overall tophitting the 8 million viewers achieved by the Chandrayaan-3 space mission in 2023.
Also read:
To crown this movement of commercial and community expansion, the digital broadcaster also surpassed the 30 million subscriber marknow owning six of the ten biggest live broadcasts in history.
The great sociological reflection behind the screens?
Convenience, my friends, trumps synchrony. Brazilians accept life 30 seconds late. And it does so willingly in exchange for the irresistible convenience of opening an app for free, on any device (cell phone on the go, laptop at work or tablet in bed), without having to carry out complex registrations.
Continues after advertising
Simple in display, complex in operation
CazéTV is not the result of improvisation: it is supported by the business muscle of the Live Mode group, a company founded by sports veterans that has revolutionized the media.
Over time, as we have seen in the transition from simple content producers to business giants, large influencers merge with corporate brands creating powerful conversion through the strength of their narratives and communities.
This same Live Mode continues to pave the way for Europe in global partnerships, solidifying the astronomical revenue figures achieved by retaining the rights to all 104 games of the 2026 World Cup — while open TV was left with smaller shares.
Proof of this commercial success is the broadcaster’s astronomical revenue. For the 2026 World Cup, the partnership between CazéTV and YouTube reached the impressive mark of R$2 billion collected in sponsorship quotas.
With each master share sold for no less than R$185 million, the channel attracted giant brands in the market, such as Coca-Cola, Itaú, Mercado Livre, iFood, GM and Ambev.
The advertising market understood the message: authentic engagement and the community built by influencers deliver more effective conversion than traditional media.
Finally, this context of migration means that traditional vehicles gradually lose their hegemony.
Not surprisingly, in 2025, TV Globo launched the “GE TV” brand and finally surrendered to the model of broadcasting games via YouTube.
The objective is simple: Regain fragmented audiences to maintain the relevance of your advertising mat.
In four years, when a new World Cup arrives, we will find out whether the consolidated broadcaster has managed to dictate the rules again or whether it will have lost its throne as exclusive owner of our living room to the new generation of entrepreneurs.
