- American football fans turned to VPNs to avoid hydration break ads
- Planet VPN saw a 57 percent increase on the first day of the WC
- A VPN gives you access to international coverage of games
VPN downloads in the US have surged as soccer fans seek ways to enjoy the World Cup without being interrupted by “hydration break” commercials, according to the latest data from Planet VPN.
Introduced this year by FIFA, hydration breaks have significantly changed the viewing experience of the football tournament, with fans around the world complaining online that the interruptions severely disrupt momentum during matches.
But while broadcasters in the UK use those minutes to provide tactical analysis of the games or to show players taking a breather, viewers in the US are forced to sit through minutes of non-stop commercials.
Desperate for a smoother experience, Americans have massively turned to the best VPN apps to watch live international broadcasts instead.
Nobody likes ads
Planet VPN recorded a staggering 57% increase in downloads just on the opening day of the tournament. Its new users on iOS have nearly doubled, while premium subscriptions in the US have more than tripled since the tournament began.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, downloads peaked by +343% on June 19 — the exact same day as the USA-Australia game.
For Konstantin Levinzon, co-founder of Planet VPN, it’s obvious that football fans are turning away from Fox’s long commercial breaks to tune in to international broadcasters, where breaks are filled by pundits like Roy Keane and Wayne Rooney.
It’s huge business for American television: according to a recent BBC report, these ads could generate over £189 million. But fans seem to hate them, especially when broadcasters interrupt live coverage for ads – and only return after the match has started, as Fox did during the opening match between Mexico and South Africa.
Needless to say, a virtual private network (VPN) is a great asset in such situations. It allows you to route your internet traffic through servers located around the world to bypass geographic restrictions that would otherwise prevent you from accessing local streaming platforms.
This way, wherever you are, you can access your favorite coverage and watch ad-free content on BBC iPlayer and ITVX in the UK, SBS on Demand in Australia or RTE Player in Ireland – streaming football exactly as if you were in a pub in London or Dublin.
And let’s not forget that VPNs encrypt your browsing data and protect it from cybercriminals. Levinzon reminds users to choose a VPN by considering certain specific features: “We always recommend choosing a VPN provider that doesn’t track users without consent or keep logs of their activity, and stick to trusted, legal streaming services to keep your data safe.”
The perfect WC ally
VPNs are the perfect companion to the World Cup. In the US, for example, where most games sit behind a paywall, VPNs allow viewers to virtually ‘travel’ to other countries where the same matches are free to watch.
In addition, streaming demand strains servers during big matches when millions of fans log in at the same time, causing ISP peering issues, network congestion and mid-match buffering. If you use a VPN, you basically leave the ‘data traffic jam’ everyone else gets stuck in for a smoother experience.
Furthermore, VPN speeds are further optimized via modern protocols such as WireGuard, while offering a wide range of traffic routing and speed optimization features.
The icing on the cake? You can access comments from all over the world – from Brazil to Turkey to India. Their locations will affect their perspective and focus and hopefully make your experience even richer.
