METER / AUDIENCE ANALYTICSJuly 2026

SPECIAL REPORT

Where Tashkent Watched Uzbekistan at the 2026 World Cup

A map of 68 locations and approximately 76,000 estimated visits: how kickoff time, venue location, and audience profile shape the value of a citywide event for brands.

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Total estimated visits

≈76.2thousand
3match windows
68locations
55.7%came from one match

Uzbekistan’s World Cup debut turned each national-team match into a distinct citywide media event.

During the broadcasts, fans gathered at stadiums, official fan zones, parks, schools, restaurants, and bars across Tashkent. METER analyzed anonymized geodata around 68 locations and showed how three matches created attention windows that differed in scale and character.

Estimated visits are an estimate, not a count of unique people.

№ 01Viewing geography

Where Tashkent watched the national team

Map of key collective viewing locations for Uzbekistan national-team matches in Tashkent
Key collective viewing locations for Uzbekistan national-team matches in Tashkent.

METER analyzed 68 collective viewing locations across the capital. The sample included official city fan zones, stadiums, sports complexes, parks, schools, restaurants, and bars.

The fan zone at Bunyodkor Stadium became the largest point of attraction. Yet the audience was distributed across the city: residents chose locations close to home, major public spaces, or venues where watching the match could be combined with other leisure activities.

№ 02Three citywide scenarios

Three matches, three different windows of attention

METER treated each match not as part of one long football celebration, but as a distinct period of attention.

This matters for media planning: a tournament average hides the actual peaks and troughs that determine the potential volume of audience contact.

01June 18

Uzbekistan — Colombia

07:00 · Tashkent

23 630estimated visits
Share of total31.0%
03June 28

DR Congo — Uzbekistan

04:30 · Tashkent

10 130estimated visits
Share of total13.3%

More than half of all estimated visits came from the second match, Portugal versus Uzbekistan. That was more than the first and third matches combined. The 04:30 window drew the smallest audience, while the gap between the most and least attended matches exceeded fourfold. The causes cannot be isolated precisely, but the implication for advertisers is clear: the same event status does not produce the same volume of attention.

№ 03Concentration of attention

Citywide reach — but a small number of leading locations

57.1%across the top five locations
78.0%across the ten largest locations
31.8%generated by Bunyodkor alone
78.8%attracted by municipal fan zones

Collective viewing took place across Tashkent, but most of the audience was concentrated around a limited number of large locations. The scale of municipal fan zones explains their share, but does not make them the best solution in every case: a major venue delivers reach, while a local venue provides a clearer consumption context.

LARGE-SCALE CONTACT

Major city venues

Rapid reach among a large event audience.

CONTEXTUAL CONTACT

Local venues

Narrower reach with a clearer consumption context.

№ 04Audience profile

Who came to watch

The audience was predominantly, but not exclusively, male: 63.7% men and 36.3% women. Almost half were aged 30–49, while a further 25.8% were aged 18–29.

METER estimates that 50.2% of the audience belonged to the middle-income segment, 28.9% to the lower-income segment, and 20.9% to the higher-income segment.

63.7 / 36.3men / women, %
48.9%aged 30–49
50.2%middle-income segment

AUDIENCE INTERESTS

Football explains the context, but not the consumer

The largest non-sport interests are tied to shopping, dining, and everyday consumption scenarios.

Sports
83.6%
Automotive
70.2%
Shopping
67.1%
Restaurants
58.2%
Business
47.2%
Education
33.1%
Family & Parenting
27.7%
Health
27.2%

Interest categories may overlap, so the shares do not add up to 100%.

№ 05Commercial scenarios

What this means for different categories

01

Retail and marketplaces

Interest in shopping makes match days relevant for retailers, marketplaces, and delivery services before, during, and after a broadcast.

02

Restaurants, delivery, and FMCG

Collective viewing creates a natural context for food, drinks, and shared leisure. Interest in restaurants reached 58.2%.

03

Banks, fintech, and payment services

Relevant scenarios include in-venue payments, delivery, shopping, loyalty programs, and fan offers.

04

Automotive brands

Automotive ranked second among audience interests. Both the audience profile and contact context depend on the venue type.

05

Telecom and digital services

Connectivity, mobile internet, content, and communication within fan groups create product scenarios beyond conventional reach.

METER CAPABILITIES

From broad reach to measurable context

METER analyzes audiences at urban events and spaces to identify where, when, and for which categories the most valuable contact occurs.

  • footfall at individual locations
  • audience change across time windows
  • concentration of people across city districts
  • audience profile by gender and age
  • distribution across income segments
  • interests of the observed audience
  • differences between venue types
  • potential relevance of locations for different brand categories
METER COMMENT

“A major event does not guarantee the same volume of attention by itself. Our data shows that one match can draw several times the audience of another, while different locations in the same city create different contact scenarios. Event-based placements should therefore be planned around the specific time, location, and audience profile.”

Elena BelorusovaProduct Owner METER
№ 06Practical conclusion

What this changes for media planning

01

Plan each match separately

The second match generated more than half of all visits, a difference concealed by the tournament average.

02

Separate reach from relevance

A large fan zone delivers scale, but does not always align best with a brand’s objectives.

03

Verify the audience’s actual interests

Shopping and restaurant interests show that the commercial potential extends beyond the football context.

04

Account for kickoff time

Morning, evening, and overnight windows create different behavior and contact scenarios.

05

Go beyond football imagery

A brand’s product scenario can work harder than generic football imagery.

METHODOLOGY

METER analyzed anonymized geodata within an approximately 100-meter radius of 68 collective viewing locations during three Uzbekistan national-team matches: June 18, 07:00–09:00; June 23, 22:00–24:00; and June 28, 04:30–06:30.

Audience profile and interests were calculated in aggregate. Visits are not a count of unique people and are not based on turnstile data. Interest categories may overlap and do not confirm purchases or other actions during the broadcasts.

SOURCES
  1. FIFA: Uzbekistan qualify for the first time
  2. Yangi O‘zbekiston: match viewing locations in Tashkent
  3. National Statistics Committee: regional population

Primary dataset: METER analysis of anonymized geodata and estimated visits across 68 locations in Tashkent, June 18–28, 2026.

CONCLUSION

Three matches, three different windows of citywide attention

The strongest window generated 55.7% of all estimated visits. The audience was predominantly male and adult, but its largest non-sport interests were shopping and restaurants. Within a football event, the audience remains relevant to multiple categories, while the value of contact changes from match to match, time to time, and venue to venue.

METER / AUDIENCE ANALYTICS

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